Guardian, Intangible
by Sixelle of Fireyness
Summary: So my job is to watch over this kid while enjoying the perks of invicibility and imperceptibility? What could possibly go wrong? I'll tell you: a lot. And being intangible in an unknown world, wanting to be heard and be some sort of HELP instead of yelling your head off, is not fun.
1. The Unexpected Visitor 1

**A/N:** If you decided to take the life-changing step of reading this, I applaud you, because things are going to be slow, more than likely short, and amateurly written. You've been told, so that I can be critiqued, even though everyone on this site should expect that. Just saying it so I can further motivate you to make a move. Don't be shy; review, fav, alert, or PM, take your pick or one not listed. Or don't say anything at all. I don't mind, so long as you read and remember this for more than ten seconds.

**(1)** I'd like to take the time to say, if you haven't already read my profile, that this is not much of an original idea. I was inspired, and decided to take matters to my own hands. The plot is original. The idea is not. I'd like to encourage you to read the cause to this effect. It's called **True Dreaming** by **Kagetaka** and it's found in the **One Piece** section. Read it, review it, message the author. He or she deserves it since they were previously discouraged. It's an awesome fanfiction that should be continued and finished, so One Piece fan or not, lover of Original Character or not, I ask you to at least give it a chance.

**(2)** If you despise all fans' original characters, I still would like if you would give this fic a try. Unlike my last attempt at an Original Character fic, I gave some thought to this, and decided to go ahead and post it. I hope I can follow through.

**(3)** Pokemon does not belong to me; Nintendo and Game Freak hold ownage. Disclaimer here only; you won't see it anywhere else.

**(4)** Unova, beware.

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_**1.1**_

**_Prelude of an Unexpected Visitor_**

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I awoke to a sound. Normally, I'm a heavy sleeper but something about this sound brought me out of the land of dreams. I lifted my head away from the pile of pillows, eyes scrunching in irritation as I tried to pick up the sound again. Nothing happened.

Sighing irritably, I slowly lowered my head back down, ears still perked to pick up any other sound wishing to disturb me.

And it was then that I heard it again.

This time, I full on sat up straight, body rigid as it came to my attention that the sound was nearby. It wasn't next to me, but it was loud enough to be fairly audible. I looked around my room, my eyes landing on the door. It was open a tad bit.

That explained why I could hear it. When I went to bed last night I had closed it for sure.

Out of reflex for whenever I was awake, I reached over my bed's headboard to my desk. I gripped at my alarm clock, whose purpose was anything but to alarm me since I usually woke before it could ring.

Right now was no exception. It was three twelve in the morning.

Whatever is going on, it couldn't be a normal thing. It's too early in the morning for the usual activities in the house to start. My heart began to accelerate with fear.

I guess I could pretend nothing was happening and go back to sleep. But the sound – heavy thumps hitting the floor – was insistent. I could ignore it easily, but it was just so out of place, I couldn't.

Then there was the fact of the direction the sound was coming from.

This fact alone convinced me to get off the sanctuary of my bed. My feet landed gently on the carpeted floor, my blue night dress gently descending around my legs as I straightened up. As quietly as I could, I made my way to the door.

Nudging it a bit, slowly, I squeezed through the space I gave myself and entered the dark hallway outside my room. A short distant from where I was, to my left was the set of stairs leading to the downstairs portion of the house. To my right was the rest of the hallway, leading to the three other rooms making up the upper portion.

At the very end of the hallway, I saw a thin line of light.

I felt a bit of a deep plunge heading towards my stomach.

Forgetting completely about stealth, I ran for the last room in the hallway, straight ahead, stopping abruptly in front of the door which I pushed opened with a hand.

Inside the other bedroom, standing in front of the large king's bed and me, was a dark figure. The form was large, mostly from the upper torso which gave it a rather intimidating build. I noticed thin legs holding up the heavy body, but my interest was cut short when my eyes saw the eyes of the figure – a dark blue – staring directly at the inhabitants of the bed.

"Please, please don't hurt my parents," I heard myself say a moment after I did. The words just came out of my mouth without me realizing, but I didn't regret it, even once my heart started pumping faster than ever in fear.

Whoever or whatever this person was, his or hers or its attention turned to me after I spoke. I next heard, "**Don't worry. I won't for now.**"

I opened my mouth to speak again, but before any words could come out, a dark hand emerged from the dark mass, heading towards me. And then all I saw was black.

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For a while, I felt a heavy pressure on my chest. There was nothing I could do about it during that time, but eventually true feeling began to return to my sense, which had been aware for much.

The first thing I did was cough. It didn't hurt, but it felt a bit uncomfortable. Still, all the same, I coughed a few more times before I took a heavy breath from my mouth.

My nose flared opened a bit when I attempted to breathe out of it next. The scent of lavender wafted it. My body tensed a bit at the scent's presence.

Slowly, I lifted myself into a seated position. I had been laying on something hard though, so my body was currently protesting at the stiff place I had left it on. I tried stretching out and relaxing before I opened my closed eyes.

The color purple greeted my sight. I blinked in confusion before slowly moving my head to the sides, a feeble attempt in shaking the wooziness I suddenly felt. It only made it worse, so I stopped that quickly.

Sitting still, I looked forward and traced the color to its source, a large bed I sat close to. It wasn't my bed because the last time the laundry was done; I picked a blue and orange striped cover. My bed was a platform; the one before me was a brass.

It was only a second when that thought went through me that it came to my attention that I was not in my room. I probably wasn't even in my house for that manner.

Come to think of it, I was lying against a hard floor. A peek down revealed to me a fuchsia hued rug with pink and mahogany stripes. Aside from the rough, thin texture of the mat, the rest of the floor was yellow hardwood. My house is carpeted.

Looking at the room more and more, and taking in the objects within – a Wii connected to a flat screen TV, a computer desk with the item it was named after, potted plants – the realization started to bore into me.

I turned my knees inward, pushing up from to my feet unsteadily, only one thought in my mind.

Where the heck am I?

"Hey, Mom!"

The shout made me jump because of its volume and proximity. I turned left, and saw that an open door revealed a hallway and a set of stairs. The sound of stomping feet came loud and raucous from the steps and grew louder with each one. My heart resumed its previous thumping and sending me to a panic.

Before I could think of what else to do, I jumped over towards the bed, my body's instincts telling me to hide. But of course! Under the bed! With my platform, I never had the frill of hiding under a bed.

But the second I made it to the divan, my body froze. What if I can't fit? What if the person shouting and coming up the stairs see me in this room? My doubts began coming, the thudding of my heart causing pain to blossom in my chest. If I didn't do something now, the person would undoubtedly see me, and questions would be asked. I could be accused of trespassing and be arrested.

Just when I thought my mind could not think up something else to make the situation much worse, I heard the voice again, right next to me, "Be sure to wake me up early tomorrow, okay!"

In my panic I didn't hear the person approach me. I flinched, waiting for the next movement.

But it never came. I felt a rush of fabric next to me, moving before me, and then it was quiet. My eyes had stared forward to the window throughout that moment, and it slowly slid down to the bed.

Resting on the white pillow was the head of what looked to be a fifteen year old boy. His unkempt brown hair lay against the white and made the boy stand out against the white sheets. His eyes were closed, his posture stilled. He was going to sleep.

It occurred to me as I studied his youthful face that he hadn't noticed me at all.

Out of an impulse, I lifted my hand and reached for him. It was a bit rude, I know, and he was probably still awake, but I had to see something for myself.

My hand was only an inch away from his face before I rushed to touch it.

My fingers went right through him.

"**His name is Hilbert.**"

I shrieked. Normally I wouldn't be scared so easily, but considering what's been happening in the last minutes, I wasn't exactly prepared for much now. My hands flew towards my mouth to cut off the loud scream, and I quickly whipped around to the source of the voice.

The black figure stood before me. Now that it wasn't so dark and I had the light of the hallway lighting the room, I saw that he was… dark because he was covered in a cloth. His large figure stood a ways from me, and though they didn't stand out so much now, I thought I saw him roll his eyes.

"**They can't hear us.**"

My eyes widened a bit, my hands slowly leaving my lips.

"**They can't see us, either.**"

I looked at the figure in disbelief, approaching him despite what occurred earlier.

"**We can't even touch them.**"

At those words I finally spoke up. "Why?"

The figure lowered his head, blue eyes disconsolate before the fabric of his cloak hid them. "**Because I'm dead.**"

My heart jumped, and I thought my eyes would pop out of their sockets. Cold fear began to fill me, and though I knew I wasn't much of a confident speaker, my words came out with an awful stuttered. "W-w-w-what-! W-w-wait-!"

"**You are not dead!**" The figure bellowed. I cringed at the loud tone. Even though he said we couldn't be heard, I was sure even the boy could hear that. Reflexively I turned around to check on him. He was sound asleep.

I turned my attention back to the figure, who was still staring down to the floor. He was quiet now, and though nothing else was said, I had a feeling he was deep in thought. I couldn't be so sure but I imagined I felt his depression, judging from his words. As my heart calmed, pity began to emerge from a corner of it.

I had to ask. "Why are you dead?"

I didn't get an answer immediately. The figure slightly turned to his side, as if remembering something he wished he hadn't. I quickly regretted asking, looking down in embarrassment. "S-sorry! You don't have to answer."

For a time, nothing else happened. At this point I had looked up again, watching him curiously, waiting for his next movement. I may pity him, but he did something to me that probably left me not dead, but something similar, I think. Something wasn't right that was for sure.

He finally did speak again, but it was so quiet I nearly missed it.

"**You'll do.**"

I inched my ear to the side. "I'm sorry, what?"

His head lifted up to attention, his blue eyes staring directly at me. Something about them unnerved me, and I felt the inklings of fear filling my heart again.

"**You have to help me.**"

I blinked at that statement before setting my face out into what I hoped was an indifferent face. "Why should I?" I left it at that. I wanted to say more, but once I said those three little words, the rest died in my mouth.

The figure took a step closer to me and I had to grit my teeth so as not to take a step back. "**Because otherwise you can say good-bye to your parents.**"

I gasped, full-blown gasped when he said that. "What are you going to do to them?" I yelled. The next second it occurred to me that I probably shouldn't be acting like this towards someone who's threatening to off my parents.

"**Nothing for now, I already told you.**" He growled. I swallowed whatever rebuttal wished to snap at him.

The figure started making his way towards me. I backed away when he made a stop next to the bed, where he looked at the boy. Silence once again fell on us as I stared at him, he to the boy, before it was broken by him again.

"**That being said, it's not your parents I will be doing harm to you if you will just cooperate with me.**" He sighed after saying that, turning his gaze away from the boy to me. I looked away, my eyes landing on the boy in bed. Even though I was visibly avoiding him, he continued to speak.

"**I ask of you to watch over him.**"

My eyes flickered over to the figure, and I looked at him in surprise.

"**Please.**" That one word was said with such force, I knew it wasn't a question. "**I don't know who else to turn to.**" At this point it was too late for me to look away; his eyes suddenly held so much desperation, the pity I felt for him multiplied.

His eyes hadn't lost that sense of determination I saw earlier either.

I tried shaking my head, a simple feeble movement but I tried. A part of me still wished this wasn't real. "Why me?" I asked again. There was no guarantee he'd give me an answer, just another statement, but I didn't get any of this. Why…

"**Because I don't know who else to turn to.**" He answered. Our eyes were still locked on to the other when he began to move. A movement from his cloak caught my attention, and emerging from it a moment later was a hand. I flinched at the sight, but he merely held it out as he broke eye contact and started to move. He moved with slow steps so I quickly realized he wanted me to follow, which I reluctantly did.

"**There's not much time for me.**" He continued gravely, hand retreating to his cloak. I merely looked in his direction. His head was inclined so I could no longer see his eyes.

"**But there's something I need to do that I cannot do. I was given a chance but they limited me so…**" His voice drifted off and at this point he had also stopped in his tracks. I continued ahead a little before I took noticed he had stopped before I did the same, turning his way.

His body was shaking. I couldn't tell if he was shaking in rage, crying or overwhelmed. I think it's the latter. I was sure I could hear the sound of heavy breathing coming from him.

"**…so I need your help. Only you can come here, and keep an eye on him.**" He finished, his eyes once more searching through mine.

So many questions went through my head, but out of all of them, only one reared his head. "Is he going to be okay?"

The figure turned his head slightly. "**Even that they wouldn't tell me.**" They? Who are they? But I wasn't given a chance to ask that question. "**Something tells me he's in danger.**"

I gave him a look. "The boy?"

He nodded in confirmation. "**Hilbert. And I want you to watch him.**"

"How?"

"**By coming here every night.**"

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what? "How?"

"**I cannot stay here for long, but you can. Every night you will come here… when you sleep.**"

That threw me off the curve. "When I… sleep?"

"**They permitted me that much of prowess,**" he continued as if I haven't spoken, "**so I can have someone else in my place. And that's you.**"

Right here, I put my foot down, promptly stomping my foot on the ground. "Hold on a minute! I haven't even agreed to help you!"

To think my attempt to stand for myself was quickly shot down with a glare, one worthy of possibly killing someone. The figure's blue eyes held so much ferocity that my mouth closed not because I willed it to, but out of a bodily reaction to the fear from that gaze. He towered over me; eyes making me feel like he was reducing me to a smaller size than I already was.

"**You will watch over him where I cannot. Because I can't guarantee the outcome of your parents if you don't…**" He ended with a drawl. Then, too quick for me to see, his hand shot out of his cloak, gripping my shoulder.

My view went black again.

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Until next time. _Ja mata ne_!


	2. The Unexpected Visitor 2

**_1.2_**

**_Finale of an Unexpected Visitor_**

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"Honey! Honnneeyyyy!"

That was too loud of a sound for me to be hearing so early in the morning, but me being me, and because the shouts were way too close to ignore, I opened my eyes. It was a painful task to do, so I sincerely hope whoever was shouting appreciated the effort.

I saw the worried eyes of my mother and father staring down at me.

"Honey!" My mother shouted louder than before, pulling me to an embrace. I didn't resist, but I found it odd that my mother would be hugging me like I had suddenly gone missing or something. On the side my father, likewise, had an unusual look on his face, the type that looked like he was ready to burst out crying. It got me worrying because in all my life, I have never – repeat, never – seen my father cry.

Nothing of the sort happened, but my father still turned his head away from me. I felt hurt by his action, though my mind was taken away from the thought when I heard the sound of blazing sirens coming from outside.

That wasn't…

"You wouldn't wake up!" My mother yelled hysterically. "I heard you fall to the floor, and I tried to get you up, but you wouldn't move! And then when we felt for your heartbeat, it was going so slow…!"

Mother kept rambling on for a while to the point the words started to slur together and I had to put a little effort to try to understand before giving up on it altogether. Besides, my father hadn't spoken a word since I woke up, and the look on his face was throwing me off. He was avoiding looking at me, his head hanging down, looking at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the room. Right now, I had nothing better to do, so I looked down at the floor, too.

A pair of dirty footprints marked the floor next to my legs.

The siren noise came louder than before, but my mind didn't register it as the memories of the night came back to me.

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A knock came from my bedroom door. I muffled a little into my blanket in irritation before lifting my head up. The door opened to show the anxious face of my mother.

"Are you sure you're okay, honey?"

I nodded as much as the pillow would let me. "I'm fine. Really, Mom, I am."

My mother didn't seem too convinced, and while a part of me couldn't blame her, it was starting to annoy me. This is how it's been since my parents found me knocked out on their bedroom floor, which was three hours ago if one didn't count the time I've been knocked out. According to my mother, it was about thirty minutes.

That was how much time past while I was conversing with the crazy man in black.

Oh, yeah, I remembered, even though I didn't want to. I didn't at first, but when I saw those footprints in Mom and Dad's room…

"Honey, is there something you would like to eat or drink?"

Of course, my mother would have to interrupt my thoughts.

"No, Mom, I don't want anything."

My mother's face looked like she just heard someone had an accident, because my mother is the type of person to worry about anyone. Even a bank robber would be the recipient of her pity if he got hit by a dumpster truck while he made his getaway. I felt bad turning her away, but honestly, I wasn't hungry. I was as antsy as she was, if not more.

To put a bit more finality into my words, I turned my back away from her. I couldn't see her, but I could hear her walking up to me. My body tensed – and I knew the reason why. All that happened, though, was my mother's face appearing from the side – plump cheeks, dark skin, exaggerated look coupled with exhaustion – and her lips touched my cheek softly.

I sighed a bit, grumbling little sounds as she drew away and chuckled.

"Call me if you need anything, all right?"

My back was still turned to her, so her footsteps and the sound of the door closing behind her were the signs of her departure.

Another sigh came out of me, but it was more frustrated than the last one.

The whole entire incident that happened this morning had left me utterly exhausted; what happened before and what came after.

A part of me was still debating if it was a dream. What I could I say? To my parents at that?

'_Uh, yeah, last night, there was this man in your room, and if it weren't for me coming in on the last minute, we all would have been dead. But guess what! He decided to spare us if I agree to help him out on something illegal/unreal/totally crazy._'

That was just one explanation that went through my head. I lost count on how many others had been judged and stashed away into the currently mixed head of mine, and I was in no mood to repeat them.

Try and try as I might to be realistic, another part of me couldn't help but think that what happened last night was true. I mean, I love my parents! Why would I have a dream about someone threatening my parents' lives?

Then again, if it wasn't real, it wasn't a dream. It had been a nightmare.

But those feelings I had felt for that cloaked figure… the pity I felt as he stared at that boy's face… the rage coming out of him… and most of all, the fear going through me when he threaten me.

Those had all felt real.

My mind was in disarray all thanks to those stupid footprints I saw. After all, they were reason why I was mentally suffering so much.

Another knock from my door broke through my thoughts. This time, I didn't bother grumbling. I just turned around so I could lie on my back this time, and inclined my head to my bedroom's threshold. Without waiting for my confirmation, the door opened.

My father, as grave as he was hours ago, came inside.

"You awake?" Came the unnecessary question. I struggled to not roll my eyes.

"I was trying to go to sleep, Dad."

"I see." It didn't look like it. He was glancing at the floor again, as intensely as he was staring at the footprints in the room.

My heart jumped at that.

My dad was an ex-military, and though he's old now – beyond his fifties – some of his instincts from his army days still lingered. Knowing him, considering he's already such a hard person most of times, he suspects something.

I prepared myself for a possible question.

"You know, yesterday, when I mowed the lawn, I probably left some tracks on the floor. I did leave them out a bit long. Your mother bit my head off when I did."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Honey, are you sure you're feeling okay?"

There was the question again. At this point, my relief overpowered any annoyance I would have felt. "I'm fine, really."

"Hm-hmm." He turned to the side, looking around the room, as if it could answer why I woken up to head to theirs. "Were you feeling all right last night?"

"Maybe just a little hot. The house gets a bit stuffy when the AC's not on."

He nodded. I guess talking to me was alleviating the concern he had, because most of the stress had left his face. "I still wish you could have gotten yourself checked at least."

My father had been the one to send away the visiting medical team when they arrived next to my mother's panicking reaction. I had insisted. Quite frankly, I'm not too friendly with hospitals and anything related. "No thank you. Too earlier in the morning for that."

"It's past six. Do you want to go to school?"

I hesitated a bit at this part. After what happened, the last thing on my mind was to go to school. But if the rest of the day was going to be a show like this, I'd rather be in school. If I can get up for school, then my parents will be mostly convinced I'm all right. The added bonus would be to avoid their coddling for the next eight hours. Right now, I could use the time to myself, too.

"Yeah, I'm going."

He took the answer well. The first smile of the day spread across his lips before he said, "Get up and ready, then. I'll drive you." The door was closed before I could argue, my shoulders slumping at his behavior. Oh, well. At least I would get there earlier than usual, if I had taken the bus.

School was a bit of a sanctuary for me. Yes, I would prefer being in my house with my parents, but being at school wasn't bad, at least for me. I looked forward to it half the time, anyway. Knowledge is power, a phrase I love to use regularly, and school is one of the places to easily acquire it. I had no complaints.

Honestly, though, school was basically just another place I could easily find some piece of mind. I had no friends, so the term one would use to describe me, I guess, would be loner. Students and teachers alike ignore me – well, the teachers don't bother unnecessarily – and I ignore them. I'm neither bullied nor popular. I just simply exist there unnoticed.

If not here, in the indulging arms of my parents, definitely there, I can sort out my mind.

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Twelve thirty-five, A.M., dang it. It had gotten so late, so quick.

School went by like a blur. At this point in time, I wouldn't be able to recall what my teachers went over in class, without the help of my notes. All day I have been thinking over the previous night.

Whoever that dark figure was, I have to assume he was a figment of my imagination. Watching the school day go by, it occurred to me, that whatever happened last night was just a phase. A normality of a growing teenager. I have weird dreams, too, regardless of my dull life. It was oddly realistic, but that's beside the point. It happened the night before and right now is the end of another day. I can't go back in time to be sure of exactly what happened. I'm not exactly in the mood to second guess myself either. It's a thing of the past so I'm going to move forward.

It's easier said than done to ignore such a thing. My mind may have banished the other details of my "dream", but there was one thing that refused to leave my mind.

The figure. That crazy arm of his, his threat to harm my parents, the footprints he left behind… all these signs were nagging at me. During the morning with each passing second I couldn't forget his words. It got to the point where I had to do anything, _anything_, to distract myself from my frighten mind.

I tried all the possible options. I paid attention in school, more so than usual, my work complete before I knew it. When the option finished, depending on what class I was in, I took to reading my textbook. You'd be surprised at how entertaining that can actually be when you set your mind to doing it.

Eventually, though, even _reading_ wasn't enough. There was no way I was bringing home all my textbooks to read for the sake of distracting, so it came down to it where I had to resort to the contents of my backpack. I started pulling out papers of any kind from inside, and equipped with a pencil, I started to draw. I'm not much of an artist, but I just started to draw anything I could set my eyes on.

It was the way I spent my day, even when I got home. Mom and Dad found it a bit weird considering I usually would flop down on the living room couch to watch television. Not today. My presence in the living room would be an excuse for my parents to hound me on questions including those left unanswered from this morning. Talking to them about that would bring some unnecessary thoughts to mind, so I stuck to putting distance between them and me.

The rest of the day was spent camped out in my room, now littered with my crappy drawings from floor to ceiling. Literally, the ceiling. I managed to dig up some forgotten tap rolls in my cabana desk, and started placing my pictures on the walls and ceilings. My floor and furniture were carpeted with sketches I was currently opting to place up on what little space was left of my wall. It looked so bad, with the out of place doodle of a yellow bus next to a outline of my parent's wedding picture, pure chaos.

But I could tell I wasn't going to last much longer. My eyes started drooping more than an hour ago, and my body ran on back up energy, running out fast. I don't even know how I managed to stay awake since I usually didn't fight sleep for this long.

My posture slowly tumbled, legs tripping over one another. One of my hands managed to reach out and grab the edge of my bed, saving myself from collapsing oh so elegantly on the floor. The sound of crumbling paper reached my ears, and I noted from the side of my eyes one of my drawings crinkled a bit under my hand.

It's pretty obvious right now, but I honestly don't want to go to sleep. A part of me may be in denial, for good reasons since everything from before appeared to be so unreal. But the other side, successfully intimidated by that dark figure refused to go to sleep out of fear. Every time I tried closing my eyes to get some pleasingly good shuteye, I started to panic. My heart would thump and I would shoot out of whatever had nearly succeeded in willing me to sleep. The next few minutes or so afterwards consisted of trying to get down from the adrenaline high my heart sent me in. I was at my nerves' end. This must be the trauma people talk about when they experience nightmares, because what happened last night had to be one.

Would it happen again? Would my sick twisted mind try to send me another horror flick? What was happening to me? Could I truly be feeling something against my beloved parents? It's true I've been avoiding them, but it was for my own sake. If I didn't do something soon, I'm liable to go insane.

Quaking, I looked at my bed. The same blue covers and sheets, the white pillow the only contrast. The heading looming over my head whenever I slept held the black alarm clock responsible of the precaution alarm should I ever over sleep.

Twelve forty-one.

I wanted and needed to sleep, and I couldn't let some imaginative fear prevent me from resting my exhausted vessel. The nightmares may as well come. If I'm lucky, I'll be dead to the world.

Very weakly – I didn't know I was that off – I pulled myself up the rest of the way, brushing aside all the drawings I laid there earlier to the floor, and flopping ungracefully on my platform. It felt so nice to feel the soothing texture of the futon pressing against my aching back. I felt old for thinking that way, but I had not found comfort here all day.

It was pretty easy to lose myself to sleep…

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I heard a voice.

"**You've... kept your promise.**"

What promise?

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My body felt heavy as consciousness came to me. Out of reflex, I stretched out, arms over my head, body bowling upwards, cricking in all the right places. The weight immediately left my body, at that point, and my arms fell back, slamming against what felt like sheepskin. My heart skipped a beat, hands at my side as they caressed the rough surface beneath me.

It can't frickin' be…

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It seems pretty sloppy, but the second part of the prologue has been written up. I could have placed them together, but I split it so that the readers can get a feel of the first half introducing the story, and the second introducing a bit of the original character's background. More of the character's background will be introduced (hopefully in a less sloppy way) later. Next chapter is the start of the _real_ plot.

Until next time. _Ja mata ne_!


	3. Runaway's Melancholy 1

**_2.1_**

**_Melancholy of a Runaway_**

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**_Leaving Without Notice_**

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The denial from earlier came back full force, my eyes closed for reinforcement. Everything in my body was screaming at the impossibility of the situation. But if this was impossible, I didn't know what could be anymore.

The purple rug felt rough even through my pants so I shifted to making myself comfortable on the floor. Last night I came into this… world, I guess, in my nightgown, but all day today I didn't bother switching out of my school clothes. We don't wear uniforms; it was just a plain blue T-shirt and black sweatpants. I hadn't taken my shoes and socks off either, so my feet were equipped. Still, this carpet was horrible. Whoever placed this here had horrible taste in carpentry.

Wow, here I am critiquing rugs. If I felt comfortable enough to do that, I should be brave enough to face the fact that I was probably stuck in a dream. I opened my eyes. I was in the same room I was in yesterday.

And just like yesterday, I saw the boy resting on the bed. Seeing him sent a jolt of panic through me, but it immediately quelled a second later.

I remember the dark figure saying I couldn't be seen or heard here. I don't know how long I've been here, but with all the commotion I was making earlier – like whining and yelling and the like – if the boy's been here for a while, he would've made a move. Either that or he could sleep through anything.

My eyes remained on the boy for a bit longer. Yesterday, the boy had slept on his back, so I got a good look at his developing face, tranquil in his sleep, and the brown hair he sports layered around him. Today, he had his back turned to me. I thought I heard sniffling, too.

Curiosity demanded I walk up to him and find out what was wrong with him. After all, the dark figure had blackmailed me with the lives of my parents to keep watch over him. Not at all pleased about it, but how was I supposed to get out of here, much less find the blasted person or thing or whatever to give him a piece of my mind?

Sighing, I inched closer to the bed, keeping my distance from it as I tried to peer over the boy's shoulder.

Yep, definitely sniffling. Now that I was closer, I could also see his body shivering ever so slightly. I felt a low dip in my stomach, wondering despite myself why the boy was like this. Why would… uh, what was his name again? I'm pretty sure I heard it mentioned a couple of times last I was here, but I couldn't remember now.

"Hilbert."

Cue screech and slight jump in the air. I turned around with the force of a gale and saw the tired brown eyes of a woman by the door. Young but with a definite air of maturity, her most noticeable feature was the big bed of brown hair cascading from her head. I could see the boy's features on this woman's profile.

So this was his mother, huh? She had to be. The look on her face gave her place away. The look solely for mothers, or those of parental status, it comes by my house daily. I thank my own mother for that one.

Still, something obviously happened here. The woman had mentioned a name – Hilbert. Yeah, now I remember. The dark figure called the boy by that name. I turned back around to Hilbert. Something had happened here. At first I couldn't tell, but now that his mother's here, I began to sense the aftermaths of an argument. Now I really didn't want to be here; I don't do well with private moments like this.

Hilbert's mother walked away from the door to approach the bed. I avoided her as she got closer, the dark figure's 'advice' coming to my head only when the woman stopped in front of the bed. She looked at the preteen boy for a long while. Not too long, but she was looking at him in a hard, concerned manner. Whatever happened between the two of them, it must have been serious. Hilbert hasn't even bothered moving at his mother's entrance.

The woman sighed, one hand reaching to a cheek in an obvious gesture of worry. Another look crossed her face, and I noted how it was one of forced patience. Yet again, another look I'm familiar with. Correct interpretation of this look signaled a sign of temporary defeat. Hilbert's mother was going to leave the boy alone.

She leaned down over him, brushing her lips over his cheek, retaliation for his ignorance before she stood to her full height, turned and left. I watched until she disappeared behind the threshold, closing the door behind her. I turned my attention back to Hilbert once she left.

The boy's eyes were turned to my direction, the brown standing out against the redness formed from a long period of crying. I caught myself jumping in the air in surprise again, before forcing myself to calm down with dubious assurance. All the while, Hilbert stared in the direction his mother left, unchanging. After succeeding in calming down, I took noticed that it was a bit quiet. The only sounds I can hear were the faint shuffling of his mother's retreating steps, growing dimmer and dimmer with each second. Finally I heard a familiar creak, that of the used nails and bolts of a door, followed by a quiet thump.

For a while, nothing else happened. All Hilbert did was stare out at the closed door, as if waiting to see if his mother comes back. Meanwhile, I took a seat on the floor next to his bed, silently wondering if I'm going to possibly kill myself with a heart attack induced by the unusual things in this dream world. Then again, can I even permanently die in a dream? It was an interesting question I had no immediate intentions of answering. It still managed to keep myself occupied for a while, though, since I barely took notice of the shifting coming from the bed.

I looked up as Hilbert drew the covers off of him, turning over to plant his sock-cladded feet on the ground. A bit of an uneasy feeling came over me when I took notice that the cover had hid from his mother and me the fact that he wasn't clothed in night attire. Far from it. He was currently wearing a black T-shirt, un-tucked and a size too big as it laid a bit loosely over the top peaks of his black slacks.

He slowly tiptop over to the desk in front of the bed, grabbing a blue jacket placed over the computer chair. On the floor were a pair of red and black canvas shoes. He slipped his feet quickly into them, bending over to quickly secure the straps. Rising to his feet, he quietly turned my way again. I got up on my feet as well, my vision obscured for a moment as Hilbert stepped _through_ me, stopping by his bed. I took note, to remember for later, of my intangibility to both humans and objects.

As quickly as he came, Hilbert knelt down again to the floor, right arm disappearing beneath the bed. A moment of shuffling, and the limb returned with a blue satchel bag looking packed and full, the strap he slung over his shoulder. My mouth hung open when Hilbert rose up to his feet one more time, crawling on top of the bed to reach over the window.

"Hold on a minute… wait!" He couldn't hear me, of course, but the moment I saw him dressed in outing clothes, my mind began to assume the worse. And as I watch the boy open his bedroom window, the cool night air coming inside, it could not be denied.

From beneath the bed sheet, Hilbert pulled out what appeared to be a rope. The question of how he managed to get his hands on that lingered in my mind. Meanwhile Hilbert threw out a part of the length out of the window, momentarily getting off the bed to secure the other half on the leg of his desk. He turned to head back to the window, pausing for a minute. A brooding gaze took over his face, before he turned back to the desk. He reached over behind the computer, and from there he pulled out a red and white cap. When he turned around, I saw the mark of a black circular sphere, opened at the side, enclosed over another, smaller sphere.

I watched, slightly fascinated as Hilbert place the hat on top of his brunet head, fastening it in place with a plunging tug. His eyes, shadowed by the visor, shone with determination. With more energy than previously, his quiet steps quickly took him to the window. Holding on to the rope, he slowly brought his body out over the opened gap.

"Hey! Hold on! Where are you going?" I couldn't keep my mouth shut. A part of me hoped beyond hope that somehow my scream would actually carry through. I hoped that Hilbert would hear me so he could stop what he was doing. I mean, seriously, where did he plan on going? Dressed like that, he clearly wanted out, but why now at night?

What made me feel worse was that, since it appeared he was leaving, his mother was completely unaware of what was taking place.

But you know what sucks worse than that? Hilbert was leaving the house when I'm supposed to be watching him. Supposedly.

"Hilbert, wait!" My mind went into a panic at the thought as I ran towards the window. If Hilbert left, what would I say to the dark figure if I ever see him again? _Oh, yeah, the boy you told me to watch? He ran away from home._ Yeah, I think outcome number one, 'immediate death', would be initiated on the spot. Since I couldn't be heard, I went ahead and let out a good and loud groan.

Then suddenly, air rushed around me.

_WHAM!_

I wailed in pain, hands achingly reaching for my back, the movement wasted. Currently it was throbbing in excruciating agony, having been the body part turned to the direction of the ground.

What part of 'intangibility' did I not understand? All of it, apparently. Thanks to this lovely example, I now learned that along with being incapable of touching people and things, I can also go through walls! Such a fascinating turn of events!

Really, though, my back was killing me, but I don't think I broke anything. The instant I realized I ran through the wall, and past Hilbert I might add, my instincts quickly took over. I curled up, drawing my limbs into myself, spinning in mid-air, back turned to the ground in order to lessen the impact. It had more or less worked since nothing felt broke. All the same, I couldn't bring myself to move from the spot. My breath coming out in huffs from the previous exertion, I looked up, eyes finding Hilbert still scaling the house's wall. By this point he was already nearing the ground. Fast work for someone trying to sneak out.

With just a few feet away from the ground, Hilbert let go of his grip on the rope and jumped down the rest. I painfully lifted myself to a seated position just as the boy walked past me.

"Wait up!" Unnecessary, but yelling seemed to send a spike of urgency through me. It was painful getting up, but the slight burst of adrenaline helped me up the rest of the way. Still, the aftereffect of my little tumble was clear as I tried to follow the departing back of my ward. I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the sharp thorns of pain. If this was a dream, how come this hurt?

In fact, I never imagined my dreams ever being this detailed. Hilbert lived in a house, receding behind me, with a mother and who knows who else, and yet it didn't ever occur to me that I would be in the midst of a small civilization. With my situation, I never thought of stepping outside of Hilbert's room. Now that I was outside, I took note of the normalcy around me. The green grass I was stepping on felt as real as the grass in front of our apartment. Rows of other houses laid around me, all lights off, residents oblivious to the going-ons outside.

It eluded me to how far Hilbert walked, and exactly how the crap I managed to do so in my state, but the boy eventually stopped in front of a another house. In comparison to his home, this building was big. In fact, the outside just seem too corporative to be a residential place. Sure, a bit of a homey feel came off of it, what with the pot of plants and the huge garden on the front porch. But just looking at the other accessories – the wind turbine, the large windows, and the definite signs of an even larger patio around back – sent the feeling of importance through me. Those warning signs were enough. Seeing Hilbert stopping in front of it confirmed it.

He didn't stop in front, so much as just looked up at it, as if he were contemplating something before he headed to the side. My legs burned with the effort of catching up to him as I watched him stop by a window to look inside. I saw him lift his hands to the windowsill, and with a look of obvious effort, slowly push the window open. By the time I was finally next to the building, he had lifted the panel as far as it would go, and was in the process of climbing in.

His feet had already disappeared into the building once I caught up with him. With my slow trek, he was probably already halfway through the building. I couldn't exactly leave yet though, so I resign myself to enter the building as well. My hand lifted up to the sill, and it went down towards it before phasing through. I caught myself before I wound up sending myself crashing to the floor again. I growled. Yeah, windowsills can't hear me? Screw it. I'm peeved.

If I went through it before, I could go through the wall again. Sparing the wall a dubious look, I put a hesitant foot forward – even after everything that's happened, I'm still a non-believer – watching it phase through the pale blue partition. I let out a small sound of victory before pushing the rest of my body forward, head last. Once my face had finally gone through, I took in the sight of a white spacious office equipped with all of the things an office needs. Right from the file cabinet to the large desk completely cluttered with stuff both necessary and not. I noticed a potted plant in the corner, and… what looked to be the doorway to another room. I heard what sounded like glass breaking through the door.

I made a move to go through the door when Hilbert suddenly ran out of said door, cradling something in his arms. Not long after that, I heard the familiar sounds of footsteps, these rough, urgent, and loud.

"Who's down there?" A female voice called out from somewhere else in the building. Hilbert and I both jumped. The voice clearly radiated anger; I couldn't help feel like I was in for it if the owner managed to come here. There was the small part of me that dimly reminded me I couldn't be seen, but it didn't change the fact that Hilbert would be in suffer, probably for the both of us, if he gets caught now. I turned around immediately at the thought to find him, only to see him already climbing through the window. I wasn't far behind him.

Pain still erupted from my back, openly protesting as I pushed to as high a speed as possible to catch up to the boy. Another thing I had to reference for later: Hilbert is a very fast runner. Although I came out of the house before him – hands up to intangibility – the moment his feet touched the ground, he burst forward. Even though he was carrying luggage in the form of that satchel bag and the items he took from the building, he was running like crazy.

I am not and will not be anytime soon a fast runner. One of the subjects I absolute detest in school is physical education, what with all the running and playing sports you were probably in no mood to play. Running can be mentioned a few more times for the purpose of emphasizing how much I _hate_ it. I preferred to move at my own pace. This, however, didn't come close to my own pace.

Hilbert was already a sizeable distance away from me, clearing away from the resident buildings and approaching an area less confined with architect. My progress in tailing him was too gradual, and before I knew it, I lost sight of him. Out of breath, exhausted, and in a lot of pain, I finally slowed down. I kept walking, for the sake of simply not stopping, since I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to make my way back to Hilbert's house if I turned back now. My legs were throbbing with fatigue, but I kept pushing myself to move.

This would go against the whole advice of what to do if you were ever lost. This situation probably would not be described as me getting lost, but I like heck I was staying still. I may have lost sight of Hilbert, but if I kept moving forward I would eventually catch up to him, right?

From somewhere ahead, I heard a growl as if in an agreement.

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**A/N**: Late update is late because college projects kept me away from fanfiction typing. :/

This fanfic was described as "Interesting" by **theguythatisnotyou**. Thank you.:D

**UnknownGuy960**, to answer one of your questions, the Pokemon have (sort of) appeared in this chapter. They will appear in full the next chapter. Sorry if I upset you about the utter lack of Pokemon in the Prologues (because you put up a point; Pokemon fanfic + no Pokemon = ? ). ^^; (On second thoughts, there are those human pairing fanfics...) To answer another question, yes there was a hint. You are free to search for it to confirm for yourself if the original character is male or female.:3

And lastly, _Ja Mata Ne_ is Japanese for "See you later". :D Thank you for reading. Until next time.


	4. Runaway's Melancholy 2

_**2.2**_

**_Melancholy of a Runaway_**

_Bickering Mouths_

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Aside from my breath coming in harsh rasps, the night was certainly filled with other sounds. Like the wide shifting through the grass, which kept getting taller and taller as I walked forward. Or – and this was good – the occasional yelp and growl coming from any direction.

On the outside, I tried to keep my expression neutral. It helps me keep my cool even when I'm actually not feeling it. And right now, I wasn't. I mean, considering how detailed everything's been up until now' I shouldn't be surprised about their being animals and such in this world. For all I know, Hilbert and his mom own a cat.

But these sounds… it sounded like I was entering a wildlife preserve or something. All the cries and growls I've been hearing just kept coming as I walked around the tall grass.

And that wasn't all. It's been happening for quite a while now – I've been hearing voices.

Not the crazy kind of voices. I mean, like it sounded like there was people nearby. I couldn't be sure. If someone was near me, I wouldn't be able to see them because of all this _grass_!

Thankfully, I didn't have any trouble walking through the grass. As high as they reached out, to the tip of my nose I might add, my intangibility allowed me to simply walk through it. I'm very grateful for that because the blades were thick enough to require manual labor to go through, and my arms were currently nursing my back.

Still, I didn't know where I was heading, if it wasn't obvious, and there hasn't been any sign of Hilbert since a while ago.

Wait, I spoke too soon. My eyes caught something that looked a lot like indentions, the trail left behind when someone walks through something dense. I ran quickly (as quickly as the grass would let me, anyway) towards it.

Deeply set, the grass bended to the side, a scar against the rest of the unruffled greenery. I noticed the trail coming from the direction I came from. A sign, I suppose, that I found what I was looking for. Then again, I can't remember now how far I walked. I couldn't remember if I took some turns or not.

I couldn't feel too doubtful, though. I finally found a clue, my methods paying off, so unless I woke up now, there wasn't any other way out of this. I wasn't going back, that was for sure. The path went straight on ahead, so I will walk forward.

So the situation has changed slightly. I had a path to follow, instead of just randomly walking forward with no clue where I was going.

The _bad_ news was that I seriously didn't know where I was going. I was just under the impression this was the way Hilbert went. I mean, the fact the grass was so thick and left a trail was lucky since I could be tracking the boy now. However, I had proof that Hilbert and I weren't the only ones out tonight.

Yeah, with every step I take, the more growls and sounds I keep hearing. Just now, I thought I heard what sounded suspiciously like "rip head off."

I stopped walking right there. I was hearing the voices of people, and right now that wasn't the friendliest of statements. Whose head was going to get ripped off now?

Since I had stopped, I saw something I probably would have missed if I was still moving. The long green blades before me were now bunched up. It was a complete giveaway that something happened here. As if the red blood didn't make it obvious enough.

Wait… blood?

My stomach began to flip, and my movements suddenly felt sluggish, like I could trip over at any moment. My eyes wouldn't lie to me, though. The color red stood out like glistening signal lights against the green grass. The quantity of it wasn't that much, but the light of the moon reflected off it, meaning it was fresh. It being fresh meant it was recently put there.

For me to run across blood suddenly on this trail meant someone had gotten hurt.

I couldn't bear to look at it anymore. Something inside of me snapped, so I kept moving forward, avoiding that stained patch.

Determination pushed me forward, quickly allowing me to edge towards the end of the path. I saw it now, the end of the tall grass, and I more than happily passed through the boundary line. I was sweating a storm from all the effort, the near entirety of my body ached, but I managed to walk out of it all.

Even though I started putting distances between me and the grass patch I still felt wound up. The voices were slowly receding to whispers, but the distance still didn't cut them off. Any moment the threat from earlier before could be accomplished. I did have my back turned to the pasture.

The minutes ticked by. Nothing happened. The calm atmosphere slowly worked its magic on me. It didn't happen instantly, but all the same, the muscles on my back relaxed. It throbbed, but I could keep going with both arms on my side. A tight squeeze on my side eventually ebbed away, leaving behind a numbing pain. Everything was still.

Just ahead, I caught sight of a tree. It seemed so out of place since nothing but grass covered the path. Taking another look around, the route was outlined by trees. This sole tree, away from the rest stood out along the rest. It was sparsely ornate. Leaves managing to cling to the branches peppered around in shades of pale green, bright red and dusky orange. With its location and form, it gave out the look of a place of standstill. Hilbert thought as much since I finally found him, leaning against the trunk.

Though I wanted nothing more than to sock him, seeing as that was impossible, I simply ran up to him. My back complained at the effort, but who cares. I was just happy to see him, in one piece at that. Of course, my mind reached a halt when I noticed the red tint clashing against his blue jacket.

Let's take a minute to observe him. Pale face. Eyes dilated. Breathing uneven and short. Sweat caking his hair to his forehead. His shirt definitely stuck to him like a second skin. Currently, the identity of that awful red color is unknown, but the options was quite limited.

"What did you do to yourself, man?" I just had to say it. I mean, I couldn't be heard after all.

By the time I closed in on the tree, Hilbert had slid to the ground from the pain and exhaustion. I bended over next to him, watching him unzip his jacket. His black shirt was even partially stained red. The slick sound of the jacket parting from the linen fabric, an unpleasant sound, indicated just how recent the injury was.

Hilbert took a moment to rummage through his satchel before pulling out a small first aid kit. He quickly took out a disinfectant as well as a few cotton balls. His shirt was rolled up, and after a number of childish hisses, he managed to clean the wound well enough to apply a portion of the bandage roll.

With the immediate danger out of the way, Hilbert finally relaxed against the tree. I edged towards him with the intention of following his example before I remembered about my special case. I snarled, choosing to lay on the ground instead. My eyes inched over to the side, keeping him in my line of sight.

While the boy caught his breath, his arm slowly crept to the side. The clinking sound of metal hitting metal tore my gaze away from him to a root of the tree. Red and white, half and half, the tiny spheres huddled together around his hand. I counted three of them.

So, Hilbert risked possibly getting arrested and absolute punishment for three balls?

With a groan, Hilbert rose back to his feet, taking the spheres with him. I sat up to a sitting position, watching him from my turf on the tree as he fumbled with one of the red and white balls.

"Stupid..." A loud curse pierced the air, sending my eyebrows rising. "How the hell do you open this?" I tried to inch over to the side, curious to know what he was doing.

Then I heard a bang. I jumped back just as a blinding white flash emerged from the palm of his hand. It headed towards the ground, from there taking shape before receding. I stared dumbfound at the result.

It... was cute. That one word was the first to come out top describe. Subconsciously, I moved to my hands and knees, crawling forward so I can get a closer look. How such a cute animal just came out from Hilbert's hand is beyond me, but I was at a point where I didn't want to question this world's logic anymore. The sight of this creature was enough to lift my mind away from all the trouble I've been through.

If I could touch, I'm sure it would fit into my hand like a doll. It's round white face was decorated with freckles on both cheeks. It's black eyes blinked adorably as it looked around its surroundings. It fondled with what appeared to be a seashell nestled on its blue belly before it looked up at Hilbert. It quirked its head to the side questioningly.

"Finally." Hilbert merely said. He lowered his head towards the hand holding the three spheres. "So I need to press the center button twice, huh. No wonder it didn't work earlier." His other hand reached into his cupped hand, pulling back with one of them. His thumb pressed the center circle, and before my eyes, I saw the thing expand about five times its size in his hand. He pressed the button again. The sphere separated from the black line, the white flash emerging from within, slithering to the ground like before. He put the ball away before repeating the same thing to another one.

I watched in awe as two more of the strange creatures joined the first one. The second one to come out was a green reptilian creature. A shiver went through me as I made a connection between it and a snake. Unlike the legless reptile, this one did have legs which it stood on. It even had arms, though they were so thin I didn't noticed them until it crossed them on its lighter colored chest. Its three-point tail flickered impatiently behind it as it stomped it feet, unnerving red eyes shifting around its surroundings.

The last of the creatures skipped about as soon as it was given form. Its piglet-like body was divided by three stripes of color: the black top of its head, the center red torso, and the black bottom portion. Its black ears twitched at every rustle the grass on its hooves. Whenever a particularly long blade of grass reached its face, it would guide its snout over to it to take a whiff of it before moving along to its next target, which just so happen to be Hilbert. It looked up at him with eyes shimmering in excitement.

My curiosity was now at its peak. What did Hilbert want with three little animals? Granted, they didn't look anything like the animals in my world, but...

I decided to leave the questions for later. During my whole gawking session, I crawled on over to Hilbert's side, taking a seat on a rough patch of grass. Did I care? No I didn't. I just kept my eyes on the animals, watching and waiting for what happened next.

"All right, then." Hilbert started. He took a breath in before continuing to speak. "Listen up, you guys!"

All three small heads turned to look up at him.

"My name is Hilbert, and from now on, I'll be your new Pokemon trainer!"

Silence followed after he made his declaration.

_Pokemon trainer...?_

[Denied.]

All stilled for a moment. I think my eyes wanted to pop out of their sockets. Who said that?

[Like I'd let someone like you be my trainer.]

The voice sounded like a harsh hiss coming from up ahead.

In front of Hilbert. Around his feet.

My eyes landed on the green snake thing.

It turned its head to the side in clear contempt. Although its mouth didn't move, I could clearly hear the words coming from his direction. [Why should I have to listen to a pathetic looking thing such as yourself, hmm? Where's the lady from before? I prefer her ten times better now. If anything, I want her back so I don't have to put up with _you_.]

So many words, coming from it. Actually, it shouldn't even be talking, if what I was hearing could be counted as such. I mean, how could it speak?

I didn't have much time to ponder this. I was still looking in the direction of the little creatures when I heard another voice join the other. [Hey, Snivy, do you think we'll be eating anytime soon?] My chest tightened when I traced the voice to the white and blue otter-like creature. It's eyes was aimed on the green reptile – did it call it something? – who stared back with it piercing red eyes.

With two of the three animals distracted by their own thoughts, the only one giving Hilbert any attention was the piglet. There was just one problem; it was obvious the little one wasn't paying much attention to anyone, much less Hilbert. Another blade of grass managed to steal away its interest, and now it hopped around the boy's leg. Hilbert was being snubbed. Wow.

Course, Hilbert wasn't just standing there taking it. Well, maybe he was doing too much of the standing, but the look on his face clearly said he was pissed off at their short attention spans. In the case of the piglet at least. The otter apparently didn't find Hilbert too interesting, since it started looking around, too. The reptile... well, I felt nervous just looking at it. Besides, its earlier words _clearly_ said it didn't give two cents for him.

Hilbert huffed out loud, placing his hands on his hips, while stamping his foot on the ground like the green snake thing. It noticed this, and looked up at the boy at last, its attention far from interested. Both glared at one another, amber versus scarlet. I watched with bated breathe, turning away from the other ones (the otter had joined the piglet in its little grass bounding) to see which one would give first.

"You know, when I first heard about you guys," Hilbert spoke up, teeth gritting, "I thought you guys would be much better than this. Guess I should have known better."

[Well, well, that makes two of us.] The green serpent snarled at him, a hissing noise slipping from its lips, [I rather be back in that stinking white place than be with you.] If Hilbert heard what he said, he gave no indication. The two merely continued their stare down.

I was paying so much attention to the drama shaping in front of me I didn't realize that one of the other little ones had approached me. Only when the voice of the white headed otter spoke did I notice both of them in front of me.

[Hey, lady, who are you?]

My head snapped at attention, taking in surprise the sudden presence of the two. Both of them looked up at me curiously.

_Wait, they can..._

The low rumble of a growl emerged from my back.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, as my heart palpitated in growing fear. Black eyes shone with curiosity turned serious as both stared at something behind me. I dared myself to turn around.

Slowly, hesitantly so, I did. The effort zapped all the energy out of me, fear nipping away at my nerves. It took all the guts I managed to bring out to keep my eyes from closing in fear when I finally caught a glimpse of a shape.

It was small, probably the same size as the three little ones Hilbert called forth. What it had that they lacked was fur. Creamy and beige fur standing out on ends which gave the impression it was bigger than it looked. Vaguely, it reminded me of a small dog.

However, no small dog bared it small, but sharp teeth at you, snarling surprisingly deep for its shape with clearly malicious intend. It looked at me, watching me with its black eyes for any movement I made. Searching for the perfect opportunity to strike me down.

The wicked words from before dimly came around. [Head, rip off. Stepped on the patch... Rip off head...]

Fear froze me in place. Or was it the intimidation from the canine creature. Its words gave reason enough to worry. His eyes left no doubt it can see me, so what was stopping it from doing just that to me? Keeping my head away from those choppers was a priority.

[Hey, hey! You there! What do you think your doing?] The voice of the otter shrieked from behind me. I had almost forgotten about them. It's voice cried along with another sound. Maybe it was just me, but I thought I heard a mild whining, too. I certainly heard stomping and maybe some shifting.

"Oh, no, not again..." The whisper was so soft I thought I didn't catch it, imagined it even. But I was sure I heard right. I turned my head slightly to look back at Hilbert.

A big mistake.

I didn't need to worry about getting mauled, but it was still rather creepy seeing the fierce puppy suddenly emerge through my body. Reflexively, my hand reached for my chest, eyes on the beige creature as it huffed at its failure to bite me. The two other little ones shrieked when he slid past them on the dirt, hopping out of the way.

Hilbert let out another curse before jumping back away from it. The action only lured its attention towards him, and so it begun to pace towards him. My widen eyes watched him lift his hand to nurse his side.

Oh, God, no... Why was this happening?

"Snivy!" Hilbert suddenly shouted, staring down at the green reptile. It answered with a dull glance.

"Use Vine Whip on the Lillipup!" He finished shouting.

Whatever he was hopping for the scaly jerk to do, it was hopeless. I can't restate what he called it, but whether Hilbert knew its name or not, the green snake looked away with a huff before stating rather irksomely, [I don't know Vine Whip, silly human.]

That stupid little-! Now wasn't the frickin' time to acting like a pompous! It was just being a jerk to Hilbert, when he had put his trust on the little twerp!

When it didn't make any move to listen to him, Hilbert's face fell a bit, a look of horror and desperation appearing on his face. As sorry as I felt for him, he should know better than asking help from such a twerp. Judging from his look, though, he couldn't hear all the remarks it was making towards him.

It was at that moment, when I turned back around to the little monster that had appeared, cringing when I looked at its distorted face, when I realized just what I was in.

The task that had befallen on my shoulders the other night.

"_I ask of you to watch over him_."

This was it. This was real. What I've been asked to do, was becoming serious. Someone's life was in danger. This was all happening right next to me. Sweat began to pour from my pores, my heart's insistent pounding loud in my ear.

If I didn't do something fast, Hilbert would be getting hurt again. Or worse.

What could I do, though? Hilbert couldn't see me. The dog thing had gone straight through me, so I knew I couldn't touch it. So what could I do?

[Waaah! That human's in trouble!] The otter squealed in horror, black eyes wide grasping the predicament. The pig started hopping in place, etching a mark on the ground, as it squealed, eyes large and confused.

Seeing them caught in the moment gave me an idea. It wasn't too appealing, but considering my circumstances, I had no choice.

Especially since I wanted to confirm one other thing.

"Hey, you, the blue one."

The otter turned its head up towards me as soon as the words were said.

My breath hitched in my throat. I could be heard. Not by other people, but...

I had to be sure. I didn't want to allow myself to get false hope. The seconds ticked by as the dog continued to circle around Hilbert, and the boy won't be getting far with his previous wound. "Can you really hear me?" I just had to be sure.

The otter blinked before nodding its head. A small smile spread its lips, its freckles making the gesture stand out more on its white round face. [Of course I can! Why wouldn't I?] It answered.

"I don't know how to answer that..." I dropped to my knees to bring myself closer to it. It nudged closer to me in response, along with the pig. Both of them were looking at me like I had all the answers to life. I squirmed under their gaze before continuing, "Can't you help him?" I pointed to Hilbert.

The otter quickly looked uncertain, and glanced to the side. [That Pokemon looks really strong. I don't think I'll be able to do much.]

"I'm sorry, what did you call it?"

[Pokemon.] It's head snapped back towards me, a concern look developing. [I'm not much of a fighter. Snivy over there can do much better than me.]

My face crinkled at the name it said. "Snivy, you said? It's not doing crap, even when Hilbert asked it to."

[Snivy's like that with everyone. He isn't -]

A loud scream interrupted whatever else was said.

My head snapped back to Hilbert, body on edge for any sign of blood.

Fortunately, the yell had been one of surprise since Hilbert had tripped back avoiding the dog. I saw the creature mid jump, completely avoiding his intended target as he had ducked below. Hilbert had managed to avoid trouble at the last possible moment.

Snivy, as he's so called, wasn't so lucky. Hilbert's fall managed to kick up dirt and sand that was sent to its direction. The dry spray of earth smacked him right in the face, turning it to an interesting shade of tan. I would have laughed if the situation didn't call for it.

The offhand movement left its mark. Now, rage filled the reptile's red eyes, and it cocked its head angrily to the side. I was afraid it was going to target Hilbert, but it leveled its glare towards the real assaulter.

[You're picking a fight with me?] It hissed angrily. For a moment, even I considered stepping back. The dog didn't seemed to pay any mind, seeing how it's just as or more angry than the snake. A bit of a staring contest stretched on before Snivy decided to make its move, rushing towards the dog.

Grasping the opportunity, I turned back to the other two animals, particularly to the otter. "Hey, you said that Snivy fellow can fight, right?"

[Huh? Y-yeah, I did.] It stammered.

"Can't you help him out? If the three of you can work together, you might just be able to take that thing down!"

The otter looked a bit uncertain by what I just suggested, a small paw lifting to contact its chin. I didn't have to wait for an answer from it, though, since the pig began grunting loudly with what sounded like a confirmation. A first speak up from it tonight.

[Hey, are you serious? We can get hurt, you know!] I couldn't tell if the otter was trying to scare the pig or what from the sound of the tone. It didn't fall for it, since it just starting nodded, snorting at every drop of the head. The otter sighed in defeat. [All right, fine.]

It turned back to me with a fierce look. [All right, girl! We'll help Snivy out! In the meantime, you have to go get help!] With that said, it turned back to the pig, nodded its head once, and both of them turn to Hilbert.

Leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I continued to stand there a while longer, staring at nothing, just ahead. Yes, I was the one who ordered those two to go help Hilbert, but now what? Could the combined effort of three little animals stop the ferocity of a wild one?

What was I even thinking about? This wasn't rational at all, if anything here could be. None of this was. I couldn't even guarantee Hilbert would be safe after all this.

Hilbert.

Simply the name pushed something inside of me.

My eyes suddenly came into focus and I looked back to where he and the others were left with that murderous pup.

Snivy was covered in bruises, and though it continued to stand conceited, straight and tall, even I could tell it was hurting. The otter and pig stood in front of it before the pup which looked about as worse, but with a look ready to tear something asunder.

It was Hilbert, lying on the ground, that really stuck to me how desperate the situation was. Along with the return of the red color pooling slightly on the grass.

I turned around and ran. I ran like my life depended on it.

My back still hurt, my legs immediately protested, and my arms felt like they would fall off any second. My lungs beat against my chest, ready to burst right through along with my pounding heart. Dry, raspy breaths scratched against the wall of my throat. Every nerve in my body poured itself to every limb and organ pushing me to max speed. I'm sure I wasn't even running in the right direction, but so long as I found someone, I could care less. How would I contact them, how could I get their attention didn't matter either.

The sound of rough dirt shifted to something solid. My shoes clicked against the new ground, and a part of me noticed my new surroundings. It was all it took to push me to the brink.

"Help! Someone help! There's an injuried boy down the road! He needs help! Someone, anyone! Help!"

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**A/N:** Ugh... that ending... I couldn've done better.

Anyway, 'til next time. _Ja mata ne_.

**Edit:** I'm sorry. I completely forgot that angle brackets can't be used here. Initially, the Pokemon's speech (I have to say it otherwise you'll be confused) was going to be within angle brackets, but, yeah. My bad. I went back and revised this while I was making corrections, so there are some changes from the first submission, as well.


	5. Runaway's Melancholy 3

_2.3_

**_Melancholy of a Runaway_**

**Safe Borders**

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An ache sat like a weight on my face. My eyelids felt like they could fall off at any moment, but I had to open them. Something was telling me to. I... couldn't remember... the memory was so close...

A lone house... long grass patch... leaves blown across the wind... a young boy... the smell of blood...

I shot up.

As soon as my body set into a seating position, my hands groped around for nothing and yet something.

As quickly as it begun, I stopped. My arms laid limply on my side while I tried to catch my breath and look around what I've been ignoring.

The sight of the white room and the crudely attached sketches greeted my eyes. Paper crunched underneath me when I clinched my fist around them at my revelation. I turned my head left, right, up, down, in utter disbelief at the sight of my own room. There was no mistaking it; I recognized everything from the small green recliner in the center of the room, to the cabana dresser next to it and the elongated book shelf in the corner of the room.

I had woken up.

I blinked, staring openly at my white clothes dresser. Those words had such a different meaning now, and with my mind currently trapped in a fog, the only thing I could process.

Waking up from...

_Blood pooling around a young boy's body..._

Again, my body twinged as the mist cleared away around another memory. I resisted the urge to jump off the bed and rush out of the room, fists clenching around the bedspread and papers beneath.

I wasn't _there_ right now. I was back at home, where I should be, in my own bed.

Not running from rabid dogs while babysitting a runaway kid and three talking animals.

...which all happened while I was asleep.

My little rant over, I took the time to settle in the familiar surroundings, a task that took quite a bit of time. After traveling through endlessly long grass, listening to voices promising pain, almost getting mauled and watching another get mauled in your place, you tend to freak out for a while, I learned.

At least I wasn't jumping at every sound I heard. Occasionally the wind blew outside, but rather than scare me, I felt at peace. Such was the power of a safe haven.

It was during this moment of peace exhaustion befell me. My limbs seriously started aching and a sharp pang of pain erupted from my back.. The air conditioner in my house was on, so I quickly came to realize how damp my shirt was with sweat. Soon enough I started feeling uncomfortably.

But it didn't make sense for me to feel this way. I definitely pushed myself a bit in my dream, but it didn't make sense now that I was awake. My body was seriously beaten up like I just gotten home from a tiring day.

A nice, long, hot shower sounded good right about now.

I allowed myself to get off the bed this time, heading straight for my dresser to pull out some appropriate night clothing. Without another glance behind me, I headed straight for the bathroom.

Frankly, the shower didn't last as long as I wanted to, because the moment I let the hot water sear my skin, I noticed how dark it was outside on the room's overhead window.

Normally, on the cases where I slept the night in my school attire, I oftentimes left the shower for the morning. Like, when the sun was just peeking out of the horizon. Right now, I couldn't see a thing.

Making sure I washed myself efficiently enough, I quickly flew out. Along the way back to my room, I dried myself and managed to scrambled into a matching set of a blue long sleeved shirt and sky blue slacks. Before I headed back to my room, I went down the hall to my parents' room. Tiptoeing and opening the door a notch, I peered inside to see my parents sleeping peacefully on the bed.

With a sigh of relief, I gently close the door behind me, turning back to my room. When I stepped through the door, the first thing I did was look at the clock sitting on my bed board.

Three frickin' forty-three.

With a groan, I threw myself back on the bed.

In three hours, I imagined myself in a world where animals talked. A rabid dog with a fixation for ripping off heads chased me around while I stumbled without destination. Someone even got hurt in all the unrealistic drama.

Face scrunching up, the now clear state of my mind began to rewind the previous few hours of that... other world.

_Hilbert's face distorted in pain..._

I gritted my teeth together, face crunching up further, my fist tightening around a rumpled ball of a paper. I hadn't even bother pushing my drawings aside. What was the point?

The last thing I remembered about my dream was screaming my head off. Hilbert had gotten really hurt, or was it that his wound opened up again? I didn't know. What I do know was that I seriously panicked, running around like a chicken without it's head.

There had been nothing I could do, so I freaked. It probably wasn't the best thing to do. It was something I knew about myself at this point.

Usually whenever my dreams got to a point that made me excited either in a good way or bad, I found myself waking up before finding out more. This wasn't any different then the rest. It being a real world or not was debatable between me and no one else, but I managed to get away when things were taking a turn for the worst.

Was Hilbert all right? Did my leaving him the way I did... do anything wrong to his world?

...Wondering about the state of someone from a dream world was not cool. Especially since there wasn't much I could have done. My last course of action seemed less unfound.

I huffed, turning around on my side. It's time to go back to sleep, for real. Closing my eyes, I started to drift away from this reality that was mine...

'

'

...and the cold, hard frigid surface pressed against my cheek, the cold spreading across my body. Not just the skin that touched the floor; every part of me shivered. I groaned, pushing my still aching body away from whatever I was laying on.

My hands tightened within themselves, gathering nothing but cold dirt. It struck me as odd as to why. My bed and pillow were not this gritted and cold.

To this point, I realized my eyes haven't opened yet. Reluctantly, I did.

I settled into a more proper sitting position, taking in the unfamiliar new surroundings. Irritation rose from within when my mind concluded my current location or lack thereof, depending on how you look at it.

"Ow!"

The unexpected cry brought me out of my inner thoughts, the voice sounding familiar enough to urge me to my feet.

It pained me to place my bare feet on the floor, since it struck me as cold, but surprisingly enough, I didn't feel a thing. All that said, I was surrounded by several furniture close to ground obscuring my vision from that level. A table set with four chairs placed before a white sofa stood between me and the source of the sound.

Of course, without all this movement, I knew who it was.

"Please, be still! You're lucky you skin wasn't ripped off!"

The choice of words were poor at best, though the tone spoke volumes of how knowing the person was.

Ahead, I saw Hilbert seated on a counter. He looked worse for wear, face covered in dirt, hair meshed on top his head. His shirt was off, and his side was currently being nursed by a woman wearing a pink dress, a small white hat sitting on top of her pink hair set in looped pigtails. The stern look on her face, so clearly accented by her blue eyes, were directed to the open wound on his side.

The wound wasn't as bad as I had imagined to be. All the same, it was still pretty hard for me to look straight at it after the past few hours and all. Plus, the added fact of being sent here when I wanted to be anywhere but here could also explain my major reluctance.

Another hiss from Hilbert causes me to flinch in place. The woman huffed exasperatedly.

"You have to stay still! I still need to see if this is bad enough to require stitches!"

Hilbert's face paled at the last sentence.

"Your not helping with all this squirming! I am aware how uncomfortable this must be, but please limited your movements!"

After that, everything went still. I could still see Hilbert quivering under the woman's hands, and his half-lidded eyes left me thinking he was coming close to passing out. His shirt, bloody and torn, laid next to him on the white cushions, his satchel not far from it. Blotches of red frequented it, as well.

For all the dirt, sweat, and grim on him, he was in one piece. Not outside, but inside, with someone tending to him.

He was rescued after all.

Something inside of me snapped, and I almost fell to my knees. Relief immediately spread around, tingles shooting up my spin as the thought came to make sense in my mind. The next breathe I let out turned into a sniffle, and my eyes began to water. My tears fell down my cheeks in gusto.

The minutes ticked by, while I stood around, sniffling like an fool. I took the time to watch the woman dress Hilbert's injury, laughing every now and then when the boy tried to hold back shouting.

"I don't even know what you are doing out so late at this time of night! Common sense would let you know better. Pokemon become more dangerous at night! You could have been killed!"

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me that..." Hilbert let his voice drag out. I didn't see any other reason to keep talking either. No reason to bring that up.

All the same, something did come to mind once the woman went back to tightening the strapping.

I searched all over the room, but I didn't see any sign of them. Where are...?

"Your Pokemon are currently downstairs on the remedial contrivance." She removed her hands, eying her work once more before looking up at him. "They'll be feed once they are fully healed."

Hilbert nodded. "Okay. Thank you very much." He lowered his head a bit. "I...don't know what I would've done if you haven't come out there, so really, thank you, Nurse Joy."

He got off the board, and made to pick up his stuff, until the nurse placed her hand on his shoulder. "And just where do you think you are going?" Her voice slurred gravely. Hilbert turned to her with wide eyes. "You can't honestly think you'll be heading back out in your condition."

"Huh, but I-"

"No you will not!"

I watched the nurse grab the boy's arm, a strange glint in her eyes.

"Do you know what time it is, young man? And you were just attacked! Do you want that to happen again?"

"But, I have to-"

"No, buts! You will make yourself sick, going out again at this hour! And have you seen yourself! You are covered in filth! Go take a shower!"

"But the bandages-"

"They're waterproof! You better not be thinking of putting those clothes back on either!"

It's amazing how quickly the moment turned from serious to goofy. I mean, watching Hilbert turn red as the nurse tried to push him towards a door to the corner of the room was a fair riot.

Eventually, the two of them disappeared behind the door, although I can still hear Hilbert squeaking in protest. I did wonder just how exactly she was going to get him to wash up, but I wasn't so curious as to see myself.

Since my attention no longer was kept on my charge, I started looking around the room. Aside from the counter, a bed loomed over one corner, sided by a small desk, a dresser and a small seat. The only color in the room against the white of the bed and seat were the russet of the dresser and the pair of flowers in a lone jar on the tawny desk. From the side, the door haphazardly hung open, leading to the hallway outside.

With nothing better to do, I headed out. The hall was surprisingly spacious, once I stepped into it. Pretty long, too. I couldn't see an end, or at least someplace with another color that wasn't white. A number of other rooms lead into this passage and the next corridor I turned into.

Honestly, it was a bit bland to look around. There wasn't much to look at.

[Excuse me?]

Whenever I next find a piece of paper, I'll have to mark down the number of times I've been scared in this world. Aren't I suppose to be invisible? My hand supported my body as leaned over a wall, catching my breathe after the shock.

[I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!] The voice began to stutter apologies after apologies. It didn't seem like they were going to stop their sputtering anytime soon, so I reluctantly turned to look at them.

I looked down to the source right next to me, about a foot shorter than me. The body of a pink-and-tan creature shook its head up and down. My eyes kept to the white nurse hat on top its head, miraculously considering how much its head moved.

"Um, listen... you just scared me a little, is all. You don't have to freak out."

Its nodding slowed, and it looked up at me with watery blue eyes, large and wide. Maybe those large curled ears of it made its face stand out more, the tips of the appendage curled around it short arms.

[I'm sorry.] It sniffed. [I really am. I'm just a little surprised to see a trainer out so late at night.]

"Oh, uh..." I didn't know what to say to that.

[Anyway, why are you out so late, miss? And in your night clothes. It's pretty chilly to be out bare-footed.]

"Oh, well, I'm just taking a look around." Pretty much true. I didn't even know where I was. An idea came out with the though. "By the way, where is this place?"

It cocked its head to side, tears dried up already. [This is the Pokemon Center in Accumula Town, miss.]

Pokemon? That sounded familiar. … Oh, that's right!

"Hey, you! Have you seen three little animals around here?"

[Three animals?]

"Poke...man, whatever you called them. Three of them. One that looks like a pig, another an otter, and the last one a... well..."

[Oh, those little children! They been let out of the machine just now! I was heading to see the nurse to let her know!]

"Okay! Thank you for your help!" With that, I turned away from it.

[Hey wait a moment!]

It's call was promptly ignored. I kept at it, turning a corner before going down a flight of stairs. The large expanse of a lobby greeted me with each step I took. The lights were mostly off, only one in each of the four rows on to illuminate the bright yellow floor. A large portion of the place was occupied with several seats and table going off through a partition to another room. To the left, away from that side, were a number of counters. Blue on one corner, red near the stairs, their length extend from one end to another.

Reaching the bottom, I stared with my mouth gaping open. This was a rather impressive clinic. I mean, the sheer size blew my mind. Much more colorful than most other clinics I've ever been to. Plants littered the room, from the ones mounted next to the bookcases in the corner to the ones placed on top of the occasional tabletop.

On one table, closest to the red counter, a stream of light brighten it apart from the others. The source, a door open ajar from behind. I thought I saw movement from behind the threshold so I stride over for a look.

Not even one step into the room and the body of another phased through mine. I may be cool with phasing through things (though the habit of walking around objects will stick around for a while longer), but the sight of another body going through me, or _sticking out of my chest_ will take some getting use to.

The other body didn't stay around for too long, stumbling away once it realized I stood there. It was another one of those pink-and-cream does like the one from upstairs.

[Oh, I'm sorry.] This one didn't head straight for a bumbling fest like the one before, thank goodness. [I didn't see you there.]

I simply waved my had in the air to wave it off.

[Excuse me, but unauthorized personnel aren't allowed back here.]

Its words made me hesitant a bit, enough to give it time to reach its paw for my arm. At least try, because, predictably enough, though I still flinched when it closed in, its paw phased through me. I was already walking away from it while it gasped and eyed its paw.

Several more of the two-legged bunnies frequented this place, coming in from other rooms connected to the one I first came through. It had a miniature hallway, connecting all the other spaces together. I only spared a glance to those who walk near me, through me, and so on, until I heard some familiar voices come from one room. My steps quicken as I headed towards it.

The room was similar to Hilbert's room upstairs in terms of overall space and furnishings. Only the bed was completely replaced in favor of a large counter where my three little targets sat on, munching happily on something. All three of them concentrated on their meal so neither one of them looked up at my arrival.

"They must be very good food then." I said by way of starting a conversation.

Not surprising, none of them lifted their head to my voice. Well, one of them did.

[Hmm, who are you?] asked the green one known as Snivy, it's red eyes pointed in my direction. I glared right back at it. I did _not_ want to talk to it right now.

[Huh? Who?] The otter looked up from its snack, eyes turning bright with recognition when it saw me. [Oh, there you are! We didn't know where you went!]

The little piglet stopped mid-bite to look as well, mouth opened despite all the food inside. I giggled at the sight.

"Nice seeing you guys are all right." I meant it, too. I didn't know exactly what the nurse or the rabbit had meant earlier about some machine or another, but none of them looked hurt from the previous encounter. Reluctantly, I looked at the green lizard's direction, recalling the wounds it had earlier. None could be found.

It stopped in progress of throwing a kibble into its mouth when it caught me staring at it. It quickly put on a face and snarled, [What are you looking at?]

I had three choices here. One, stoop down to its level, and act like I'm not sixteen, but instead a five year old, sticking my tongue out for extra effects. Two, talk calmly to it, like the respectable teenager I was. Or three, ignore it altogether. The last choice was basically just the five-year-old act in a much more tolerable level.

It was also the most appealing of the three options. So I did just that, finding interest in the pig and otter instead.

"So what happened? How did the three – four of you get here?" No other way to get info but from them.

[Oh, you should have seen it! Tepig was so cool, tackling that Lillipup to the ground!] The otter started jabbering excitedly, not to mention fast. [That guy will think twice before attack us again! I mean, seriously, you know-]

"Whoa, whoa, slow down." I had to laugh at its enthusiasm. It was something one could get use to. "One thing at a time, all right?"

[Yeah, silly. You should be the one to talk.] Snivy said. [You were running around being chased by the mutt than actually being useful.]

I was this close to pummeling the little snake.

[Leave Oshawatt alone, Snivy, you meanie!]

All eyes turned to the little pig, finally ignoring its pellets to take part in the conversation. Its eyes were staring at the direction of the snake and otter.

[You were the first one to fall to the ground after everything happened.] Maybe it was just me, but I thought I saw a blush on the snake's cheeks. The piglet looked dead-on at its fellow companion. [You can't act like it didn't happen. Oshawatt was the one who helped you out back there.]

Yeah, it was definitely blushing. It turned its long face away from us, keeping the darkening color mostly obscured. I had the advantage of being taller than it by several measurements, looming over its pathetic attempt to preserve its dignity. That'll teach him to make fun of others.

Even with all that, my attention mostly remained on the little piglet. That was the most I've heard out of the little one, and it was still talking.

[You were pretty cool yourself, Oshawott. I saw the way you glared at it. Its tail went between its legs. You can actually be pretty scary when you want to be, huh?]

[You think so, Tepig? I don't think I'm all that scary.]

[At least you can be scary. Snorting doesn't exactly scare anyone.]

Okay, as cute as it was watching them stuff their mouths with food and converse among themselves, I was beginning to feel left out. And that was saying much.

"Um, hello?"

The otter snapped up its head up. [Oh, hi!]

Back to square one, I see.

"So, what exactly happened back there?"

The otter put its paw by its mouth, a gesture I now recognize as its thinking pose. [Well, after you asked us to help Snivy fight the Lillipup, we kind of lost the whole three-to-one advantage when Snivy passed out.]

[I did not pass out!] Snivy's face colored a darker green than before.

[Yeah, you did. I had to keep the Lillipup's attention away from you and the human boy. It was hard because it kept saying you bit it on the ear. It would've have bit me if Tepig here hadn't tackled it.]

[But the coolest part of them all was the Audino!] The piglet looked like it had stars in its eyes.

[Yeah, the Audino!]

"Who's Audino?"

The two of them (plus Snivy, though I promptly ignored it) looked at me with wide eyes.

['Who's Audino?']

[You know who Audino is!]

"Uh, no I don't." No matter how stupid I felt, I wasn't going to not admit it. I will repeat how stupid I felt, though. Their looks were _not_ helping.

[She doesn't know who Audino is.] The piglet's ears were drooped, talking like it just finished telling it lost its favorite toy.

[You poor, poor thing...] The otter followed up, looking at me with sympathy.

"You didn't exactly answer my question, you know."

[Silly human.] I turned to glare at the snake completely immune to the warning I was sending it. [There's one behind you right now.]

Can anyone guess that I didn't like what it said at all.

I didn't take my time to turn around, but the sight of the stout rabbit still managed to surprise me. It's eyes were set in a way that clearly said I was in trouble.

[You're not allowed back here.] It warned.

[It's okay. We know her, Audino!] The otter came to my rescue. As I turned back to them, its arms shook excitedly up and down. [Oh! This is the Audino who rescued us!]

[You were so cool, fighting that Lillipup back there, miss!] The piglet joined in. The snake turned its attention back to its food.

[Oh, stop. Flatter won't get you anywhere.] For all that it was saying, the Audino as it was called, looked flattered. It was actually kind of cute, watching the light blush color its tan skin, while it waved its paw in the air.

With everyone gathered together, I collected myself, clearing my throat to get everyone's attention.

"Well, I'd like to take the time to thank everyone, then."

Four pairs of eyes looked at me.

My face was slowly turning red, one arm lifting to knead the other. My bare feet shifted around as I continued, "If it weren't for you, Hilbert wouldn't be in one piece, so I have you to be thankful to."

_Especially since you all wound up saving my hide in the process_.

[Oh, so you were the one.]

I turned to look at the Audino with its short limbs crossed around its chest. [You were the one I heard calling for help outside. I thought that if you screamed any louder you'd be waking up the whole town.]

Could it say anything else that would make me turn redder?

[I knew it!] The otter said. [Audino came because you asked it to. Thank you, miss!]

"No, I'm the one thanking everyone here. Y'all were the ones who did something, I..." I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence. Bottom line is, they thought I did something, by all means they can think it as such. In the end, everything turned out all right, I guess.

[I don't need your thanks.] came the ungrateful tone of the little snake. Of course, someone has to rain on the parade. [I didn't do this because I wanted to help you, measly human. The Lillipup didn't know who it was messing with, so I stepped up to teach it a lesson. _You_ did nothing. Oshawatt, Tepig and Audino were the one who dealt with the little menace in the end.] Snivy finished.

As if I wasn't aware of the obvious.

"Okay, look here, you little brat." I inched closer to the snake, squishing the discomfort that emerged in my chest. The green reptile backed away at my proximity, but I paid it no mind and continued. "Out of everyone here, I rather not be talking to you. You are about the most ungrateful... thing I've ever met, but you know what? I'm swallowing my frickin' pride doing so because I don't want to look like a frickin' ingrate!"

I backed off, hands heading to my hips. "At the very least you should be thanking your friends here. Teach it a lesson? You passed out! They had to save your hide in the end! What do you call that?"

The next moments following my tirade held silence. All four of the Pokemon creatures just sort of chilled in the lack of chatting.

Until...

[Waaaahhh!]

With eyes threatening to pop out of my face, I stared down at the now-bawling mess of the Snivy. Its tiny hands rubbed its eyelids as tears fell down its face.

[Yo-You're so mean to me! No one's ever raised their voice at me! No one's ever raised their voice at meeee!]

[Woah! Snivy's crying! He's really crying!] The piglet exclaimed.

[You're getting my food wet!] That said, the otter tried to place itself between the tears and its plate.

"I-I didn't mean to make it..."

[That's it!] The Audino stomped its foot on the ground. [You're disturbing the patients! Please get out!]

It could have a gone a bit better, but I said what I wanted to say, for better or worse.

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**A/N:** Pokemon babbling = this chapter. I had _fun_ writing that last part. :D The Hilbert and Nurse Joy scene was pretty entertaining too.

**Blood-red Moonlight** - Thank you. :D It's an interesting concept, yes.

**Beylese** - Thank you for giving the fic a try, and for the compliment. Magikarp comment? Very true. I felt sorry for Meowth when he bit on James's Magikarp, but even they, since they have survived for so long, have some sort of defense against those who wish to do them harm. They **can** learn Tackle (and evolve into Gyarados) after all. Your prediction was half-true, by the way. :D

**XfoxxbloodX** - Thank you very much. :D

My thanks to **Blood-red Moonlight** and **XfoxxbloodX** for adding this fic to their Favs and Alerts.

My thanks also go out to the ones who are simply reading this. That makes me happy, as well. Until next time. _Ja mata ne_!


	6. Runaway's Melancholy 4

**_1.4_**

**_Melancholy of a Runaway_**

**_Pseudo-Victory_**

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After the Audino had kicked me out – more like rain its ever complex vocabulary on my poor soul – I watched, from the convenience and safety of the room next door, as it calmed the crying snake down. A couple of times I drew my head back in, as weird as that sounds, whenever my tattling signals went off, and the room's other occupants looked my way.

In the end, though, all was forgiven, since the Audino didn't even curl away from me when it saw me after it exited the room. It pushed a small cart holding three red-and-white balls. Very familiar one's at that, so I didn't bother asking what became of the whiny baby and his friends.

"So where are you going now?" I risked asking.

[The nurse called me, so I'll have to bring these little ones up to their trainers.] The Audino cast me a side look. [These wouldn't happen to be your Pokemon miss?]

"No, no they're not." No way would I be able to handle these things. They were giving me a headache and they didn't even belong to me.

We left the downstairs ward, making our way towards the lobby of, what I learned is, the Pokemon Center. Because my curiosity slowly got the better of me, and with no other way to entertain myself as I filed behind it, I asked just what exactly was the place for.

The Audino gave me a strange look before explaining. [The Pokemon Center is a place for human trainers to bring their Pokemon for remedial purposes.]

"Why?" I thought it had finished talking. The crossed look passing over its face told me otherwise, so I scrambled my hands in front of me defensively. It sighed before continuing.

[There are various reasons behind that. The point is that Pokemon get hurt frequently so human trainers have a place to come to when their Pokemon are injured or otherwise.]

It still wasn't much of an explanation. More questions than answers came up, but I was afraid I'd wind up irking the Audino if I kept asking for any more info.

We eventually walked up to an elevator of sorts. Given the cart, I understood the issue. With the press of a button, the elevator doors opened, and the Audino walked in pushing its carriage. I made a move to follow before I suddenly froze.

Memories of me falling through the wall of a second story building turned into images of me falling through the elevator floor, or maybe the wall or door...

[Um, miss? Are you coming in?] The Audino's paw was the only thing keeping the elevator door open and from moving.

"Uh, n-no thanks. I'll just take the stairs. You know, better for your body to exercise and all..." My voice faded away as I inched my way over to the stairs.

The same rush ebbed out of me as I approached the first step, so lethargic, that I wondered what came over me. Instantly I felt as tired as I truly felt, the desire to throw myself into an actual bed (the one I left behind in my world, dang it) came to me. It took a strong awareness deep within me to urge my tired limbs to climb over each aggravating step.

So much of this world was unknown to me. Namely the what, where, and hows, but first things firsts. I had to get back to Hilbert. Above all, he was the priority, and the key to my safe return home.

Or was it safe? Just recently I discovered this whole watching-over business was not as simple as it could have been. Not that I had any illusions of it being easy. Whether this was all a dream was a question I couldn't answer at the moment, but things were about as real as they could get. Hilbert had nearly gotten killed. That was a fact, no matter how much I wanted to deny it. Maybe it was just a realistically looking effect and a strong one at that, but I even sweated here. I remembered the pain I felt when I contacted the ground from the fall back at Hilbert's place. While trying to find him in the a maze of grass, I sweated from all the motion.

My sense of reality were slowly getting hammered at.

I reached the top of the stairs feeling more confused as ever. Before I could start doing anything else, I saw ahead of me the nurse from before along with one of the Audinos. Out of habit I moved out of the way, noting the pink-and-cream creature sparing me a glance as the pair headed towards the stairs. Once I no longer saw the top of their heads, I walked down the direction they came from.

A few minutes later, it _finally_ occurred to me that I had no idea where Hilbert's room was at.

"Aw, crap!"

Stopping my verbal complaint would be a wasted movement, so I also took up slouching over one portion of the hallway, body phasing through as I fell forward in a rush. I groaned at loud upon contact with the floor, grumbling at my forgetfulness.

"Note to self; start paying actual attention to what you are doing." If my body wasn't already in pain, it was now. I pushed myself up with juddering arms, inwardly cursing my luck.

[You're funny.]

I flinched, my body again processing an unexpected voice. No matter what my state of body was in this world, someone would always manage to give me the scare, huh?

The hospital room I landed in was the same as the one of my target, but on the other side of the hallway (I remembered that much). The furniture were rearranged to the opposing direction, so just as before, I faced the bottom portion of a bed.

My head turned upward, looking into the green eyes of the company I had. They blinked right back at me.

I made to get on my feet the rest of the way, unsteadily standing as I looked down at the little critter. It was too dark to see any defining features, but I did notice that someone, another person, was resting in the bed.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I just... kind of stumbled in here. Sorry about that."

[Hmm... how did you do that?] It asked. [I didn't even see you go through the door.] It shifted from its place on the bed.

"Yeah, like I said, sorry about that. I'll just be leaving now!"

I didn't give it a chance to try to stop me. I quickly turned tail, and left the way I came in.

The hallway light pestered my eyes enough to urge them to half close as I made my way out. Unintentional or not, at least I learned it wasn't the room I was looking for. I resumed my earlier route down the hall.

With so many doors, my problem quickly stood out. Depending on the jumbled up state of my mind to lead me to my ward's whereabouts wasn't getting me anywhere. And everything looked the same, dang it! I ambled aimlessly down the hall, ineptly looking at every door I walked by.

My attention strayed from ahead of me, and I didn't see the approaching Audino until it cried out. I phased right through it, prompting it to further panic in its confusion. The cart it had been pushing begun to wheel out of control when it was released from its grip. Wheels squealed sharply before the cart crashed loudly against the wall.

Down the hall, a door could be heard opened. I turned my head and saw none other than the dark head of Hilbert appear from beyond it. I ran towards the boy, running passed his confused figure, into the safety of his room.

Much to my surprise, the room was in a bit of a mess. Items of unknown identity littered the floor, not in great numbers, but in noticeable clusters. No longer than a few seconds of surveying did Hilbert close the door behind him, effectively cutting off the Pokemon's shrilling sounds. He muttered something under his breathe before turning back to the room.

I watched the boy scramble around the room, gathering things. The blankets and covering of the bed had been removed, the last of the fabric currently being stuffed into his satchel. He quickly made his way across, heading to the adjacent door, coming back a few seconds later with the dirty remains of his previous clothing. I involuntarily shuddered at the sight.

Other things were soon added into his bag. I recognized his first aid kit, contents sprawled out in one of the clusters before being added inside. After some difficulty closing it, he picked up the rest of the mess: more clothes, few pairs of them including (my face burned) some underwear; assortments of chips and trail mixes among other junk foods; and the other items I wasn't too sure belonged in a travel bag.

A white bottle with blue contours on the lower part of its shape held on to my attention for a few moments as Hilbert continued to fit everything back into his bag. Eventually the bottle was taken by his nimble hands, one of the last things in the room left to take. The room looked like it had been pillaged, seeing how bared it was now. There weren't even any cushions left on the settees. I had to hand it to the boy. He certainly knew how to pack.

Lifting the bulging package up to his shoulder, Hilbert made his way towards the bed. Placed on the sheets, its red color making it stand out, were the three capsules he risked so much for. He placed them into one of his new slacks's pockets. His jacket came next, a new one placed snugly around his being, before he picked up his cap next to the pillow. He placed the hat on his head with a firm pull.

Why was I getting a weird sense of deja vu?

Anyone who predicted Hilbert turning to the window gets a free token.

I resisted the urge to throw another unheard tantrum and instead begrudgingly approached Hilbert along the window. I felt reliefed at seeing an added platform at the side of the window. Well, it makes getting out of here a lot easier, because the last time I checked Hilbert didn't have another length of rope in his bag.

The whole process of getting out went smooth enough considering we both had solid flooring to place our feet on. No one came to disturb us either. Much as well. I'm awfully jumping in the place, and I had to stop my thoughts midway of playing through a possible scenario from where I was standing. Yeah, not giving myself nightmares, thank you very much. Or at least, not going to be hurting myself anytime soon. Definitely not if I can avoid it.

A ladder hung on pegs near the platform that Hilbert used to lower himself noiselessly down the high wall. Me? Well, thankfully, an elevated portion of a hill conveniently elevated near the window, so through the old-fashion means of jumping I landed on the ground ungracefully but unhurt. A few seconds later, Hilbert joined me.

At this point, I had no idea what the boy was up to. My mind just couldn't conceive why he would _deliberately _leave a comfortable place like this, no matter how bland it looked. My urges for a bed probably might have to do with my desire to stay behind, not that I'd be able to lay on one here.

Nonetheless, I stayed behind him, eying him for any signs he would suddenly freak or otherwise.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just your regular runaway boy. Who just so happened to survive possibly his first life-and-death situation.

It wasn't apparent at first, but as I squinted my eyes at Hilbert's figure, I noticed it quivered slightly. If I honestly thought he was all better, I'm an idiot. He lost blood, and could have bled to death!

The walk from here on, the distance between us and the clinic growing, was slow. I was in no hurry. Hilbert, on the other hand, obviously was having trouble breathing. His face had more color on it than before, but it was still pale. His hand clutched at his side gingerly.

Eventually, not too long really what with the slow pace, we approached a group of benches scattered around an elevated plain. Beyond it was a small park, complete with a sandbox, a swing, a monkey bar, a slide, you name it. Pretty cute looking, too.

Hilbert ignored the benches, walking past the slides towards a group of apartments behind the park. He headed towards a small alley nearly closed off by a pair of trash bins. Further delving revealed a set of stairs within the dank space.

They were really long, the bottom was dark enough to send a distress signal inside of me. I don't do well when it's too dark.

The end of the flight opened into a deep cavity where more apartments were located. It was in a much more dilapidated condition than the others above, but nonetheless, pretty decent. The dark areas still count, since the height of the walls and buildings cast down shadow upon shadow. Hilbert headed towards one of the many corners between the flats, me reluctantly tailing him.

He settled beside one of the many trash bins, grunting in obvious discomfort. While he tried to remove the satchel's strap around him, I sat right next to him.

If he was going to settled someplace, he could have picked out a more suitable one. He was injured, for goodness's sake! I resigned to yelling out again if Hilbert starting frothing in the mouth and took a seat next to him.

It smelled awful, and since my clothes were not travel-worthy, I sensed the emergence of some rather nasty smudges later on, both on my pants and feet. This concrete felt like it hadn't been washed in forever.

A sound came from my side and I turned and watch Hilbert nodding off against the wall. His eyes were barely opened at this point. Honestly, I could easily sympathize with him, and imagine just what kind of exhaustion he was going through right now. My eyes were only being kept open at this point because of my caution around the unpredictably boy.

Still, Hilbert was exhausted enough he could pass a trash can for a pillow. His head slide down the wall, hair and cap rasping it as it landed with a too audible _clang_! His arms hung limply by his sides. Soon, light snores leaked out of his opened mouth.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The effects of fatigue. My mother had told me before I could sleep through anything at anytime, anywhere, but seeing something of that similar sort in front of me just didn't seem so true. If I had the choice to sleep in a trash filled alley, I would definitely turn the other way for another place to crash.

Thing is, I didn't have a choice right now. With all the moving around I've been doing for the past hour or so, I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I place my back end down on something, despite the fact that it was a surface with a questionable state. A part of me yelled to not lay down against the floor, but when I checked the wall for immaterial likelihood and my hand went right through, I couldn't very well lie back without having my head cut off from Hilbert.

With a sigh, I lowered myself down to the floor with a grimace, an arm beneath my head to provide some distance from the filthy and smelly floor. It was so bad I started breathing into my arm to provide some kind of comfort for my nose. Eventually, though, the awful smell faded away as my own fatigue finally settled down around me.

Well, what do you know? It's not all just surprise and terror here.

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Sometime later (it's the only way I can describe it because it felt instantaneous) I woke up to the sight of pink clouds overhead. The sky, laced with warm colors etched its message of a new day into my sleepy form as I slowly tried to stir it up. Those chirping sounds I could hear coming from nearly every direction sort of help break that cover of sleep I was so swiftly kicked out of.

Somehow during the night, I had uncurled myself from my initial position and wound up splayed out on my back, arms out and everything. My limbs were a bit numb from being so stretched out as well as my back from the hard floor, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. I actually felt great considering how things have turned out a while the other night (in this world, not mine).

I stifled a yawn as I surveyed around, and caught Hilbert curled up around the same trash bin from before. His satchel had found its way beneath his head this time, so I guess it turns out the dang thing wasn't a suitable place for one's head after all.

Not a moment after seeing him, Hilbert stirred in his sleep, legs stretching out along with his arms as he grunted out in his sleep. His browns eyes eventually came into sight, sleepy and unfocused, hands twitching out in front of him. It took a while longer for any real reaction to show up, the boy slowly urging himself to sit up from his resting spot. He stretched out as well, arms grabbing onto the other for further extension.

Time passed on without other actions taken, Hilbert resting his head against the grimy wall, still suffering from drowsiness. Watching his head bob back and forth quickly lost its relevance, so I took it in my hands to do a little surveillance around the area.

Despite seeming so early in the morning, people were already scattered around the center of the large gap, going by their days. Several of them, mostly children hung out around the bottom of the stairs, chasing each other around. I noticed how they weren't the only ones within the group. Something which looked like a mix between a chipmunk and a meerkat hung out among the center of their little gathering. I also noticed, with a gulp, the presence of a familiar dog-like creature barking happily at their feet. At least I hope it was barking nonthreatening-like, because I would not know how to save them if it turned out fanatical.

A grunt from behind me drew my attention away from the young laughter. I kept my eyes trained on Hilbert as he rose to his feet, dusting futilely at his pants. He reached down one more for his satchel, hooking it around his shoulder securely before taking his first steps of the day out of the alleyway. With much gusto, I followed behind him. As out of place as he appeared to be among the happy populace, he strode right through them, passing by a few kids running past him as he made his way towards the stairs. Some older children sat on the steps, but aside from a side look to Hilbert's messy clothes, not one of them made a comment. We reached the top without much incident.

Upstairs was a bit different. Hilbert and I had arrived at this town at the dead of night, when most, if not all, of this town's residents were huddled within in their house unlike a certain capped friend of mine. People now saunter around the spacious park; sitting on the benches, accompanying their children at the park, talking with one another. It was early in the morning so the number of people weren't overwhelming, but an acceptable count and a comforting sight to see.

Hilbert wandered away from the park, approaching a cluster of large pink-and-blue colored parasols arranged over tables. He pulled up a seat, settling himself just as a waitress came on by and asked what he'd like.

"Just a few biscuit to go." He looked away, attention away from her. I couldn't bring myself to be interested at her huffing away, so I joined the boy in the sightseeing.

The park started seeing more people. One particular spot had a large cluster of folks huddled around a pole bearing a black and white flag. The letter P laid at the centered in a blue hue, a zigzag mark hanging at the end.

"Another rally." Hilbert and I turned around to see the blonde waitress arriving with Hilbert's biscuits. Her annoyed face had been replaced with a look of concern as she joined us with our sightseeing.

"What does the flag stand for?" Hilbert asked, his voice barely audible over the loud noise of the crowd.

The waitress gave him a peeved look before replying. "It's that organization that's been giving speeches about human and Pokemon equality."

Next to me, Hilbert flinched.

"Several folks have given their support to their cause. That over there," she pointed to the people gathering at the park, "is just one of the rallies that have been going around since the last speech.

"Those people from the Plasma group are really persuasive." she continued, completely ignorant of Hilbert's darkening expression. "Several people have been releasing their Pokemon left and right. Why, just the other night, my brother released his Pansage into the wild."

Releasing Pokemon...?

"Thanks, miss." Hilbert rose from his seat, face hidden by the rim of his hat. He fished into his pockets, the sound of metal clicking against one another coming to a halt at his hand's withdrawal. He placed some yellow coins onto the table, collecting the bag with his meal.

"Keep the change." Even with his face half hidden, his smile looked sad as he walked away from the table, me at his heels.

We walked past the growing crowd, weaving our way past other people, up and ready for a new day. For all of the loud voices and glee in the air, Hilbert walked with his head down, muttering under his breathe whenever he past someone.

Eventually, the buildings gave way to unruly greenery and a rugged path, civilization getting further with each step with took. The noticeable voices of people shifted to the faint rustle of the trees.

Hilbert's pace slowed considerably now that he wasn't surrounded by other people. He silent reveled in a warm biscuit while glancing aimlessly around the treetops. I tried to find something interesting around me, but I couldn't deny the worry for the boy. The silence unnerved me, leaving me on edge.

The crunching sound of a crumbled bag signified the end of his light breakfast. Tossing the bag towards a grass patch (that's littering, boy!) he walked up to a high ledge next to a lea of long grass.

He placed his satchel on the top of the ledge, removing the three red-and-white capsules from within. He fingered one of them before gripping it and throwing it down. A flash of light later, a familiar reptilian creature appeared.

[What now?] Snivy moaned, stopping its tiny foot against the dirt.

Instead of answering, Hilbert walked straight for the grass, not even casting a look behind him to check if he was even being followed.

Looking put off without an answer, Snivy huffed, settling on its rear on the dirt. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Hey, he called you out for a reason." I placed my hands in fist on my hips.

Snivy started and turned to look at me with wide red eyes. Not exactly the cutest thing I have seen.

[You're still here, girl?] It said not with an ounce of animosity, but with incredulous.

"Well, I don't exactly have anywhere else to go."

The snakelike creature stood back up, studying me. [I was kind of hoping I wouldn't need to see you again.]

"Oh, trust me, I'm not to keen on seeing you again." I looked up, watching Hilbert return from the grass.

"Hey, Snivy!" He glared at the Pokemon, though it paid him no mind, it's attention still caught on me. "We're going to the grass. Come on!"

At the last shout, Snivy turned around, irritation on its face. [You were better off walking into the grass. Maybe another Lillipup would have finished you off.]

Rage burned in my throat, my breathes coming in short rasps as I struggled to hold back at yelling at the little twerp. I stepped forward, my footsteps alerting the snake.

"Can you quit-"

"Hey, Snivy." Hilbert looked down at the Pokemon with an unreadable expression. "I can really use your help." He bent down on one knee, leveling with the much smaller creature. "I can't get to Striaton City without your or the others help."

His head lowered, his expression lost beneath the outer brim of his cap. "There's something I have to do, and I can't do it without your help. If I'm going to get this done, I'll need your help. Can you please help me?" His other knee met the ground, both hands planted in front of them. "Please! I promise to treat you right. Just please help me!"

The sight left me with my mouth wide open.

[Honestly, this human is far in too much in the deep end.] Snivy started with his trash talking. [You don't need my help.]

"Yeah, you don't need to help him, because you can't help anyone at all." I scoffed. The Pokemon turned around and glared at me.

My lips lifted slightly. I got him.

"The other night you ended up having to be rescued. Imagine how it'd be like if Hilbert had to depend on you. It's be a disaster!"

Watching the little green thing clench its fist, leaning forward with it lips gritted in anger – let me tell you, it's hilarious. I swear I saw the white of its eyes turn red, along with little droplets of water.

Wait, what?

[Silence, human!] Snivy pointed at me, fury evident in its stature. [I won't stand and be ridiculed here by you any longer!]

"Yeah, good luck with that. Because as far as I'm concerned, you're still standing there."

During Snivy's whole episode of reclamation, Hilbert stared at it like it lost it's mind. I would have done the same thing, too, if it weren't for my own situation.

Snivy turned back to him, looking him in the eye this time. [I'll prove to you how much I can do!] It hissed at me at length.

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**A/N:** Very late chapter due to school and lose of confidence. Nothing I can't handle, don't worry.

Not a great chapter. There's a lot of awkward wording (I can **_feel_ **it!), but I wanted to post this up since I've left this story alone for a good while. I'll have to find time to correct it later in the future.

This chapter marks the end of _Melancholy of a Runaway_, with a new act opening on the next update. :3


	7. Stranger Stranger 1

_**Stranger Does Stranger Things**_

_**2.1**_

_**Tumble in Ashen Grass**_

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Man, how much I love the mornings. Mornings where you just wake up and take in the rays of the morning sun.

Simple was my mornings. Until I woke up on one particularly one and discovered how grimy my night clothes were.

That in itself didn't annoy me. Just as much as sleeping next to garbage did.

It was explaining this to my mother that did.

As fascinating as it was to discover how evidence of my nightly visits followed me to my world – such as evident perspiration, dirty clothes, hungry tummies, and physical exhaustion – I wasn't looking forward to explaining this. Not one bit.

I only did what any other only child in my position would have done – hide the dirty laundry under my chair. (Couldn't very well hide it under the bed; too obvious.)

Fortunately, when I was wretched away from my dream world, it was around ten minutes before my parents would get up for the day. So I quickly did just that, gather myself a new pair of clothes for the day, and ran towards the bathroom. Need I mention I got out just in time to greet my dad in the hall?

My mother followed, going into the kitchen to making breakfast, which I appreciate. Watching Hilbert snacking on some biscuits left me wanting some of my own, which I found odd. I mean, how could I be hungry in a dream world? Can that even be possible? Not that I'd be able to eat anything there. I phased through things; I couldn't possibly be able to pick up a bagel.

...Right?

Well, no point in thinking about it. For now, I had left Hilbert alone with that Snivy thing in his world. I was back in mine and ready to do my own things. I was not in the least bit concern over Hilbert. Nope, not one bit.

"Helloooo? Honey?"

My mother waved her hand in front of my face when I didn't respond to her. Before me was a plate of scrambled eggs with hash browns and bacon.

Thinking can wait until later.

"Sweetie, are you all right?" I managed to hear my mother over the sloppy mess I was making while eating my breakfast.

"Hhmm-hmm. Thanks for breakfast, Mom."

"You're welcome, honey. You'd best hurry up. I think your father is ready to take you to school."

My head lifted up and down in answer, and I hurriedly gathered the dishes together to dump in the sink. I just about left the room before I turned back around. "Hey, Mom?"

"Yes, dear?"

"You... have you been feeling well lately?"

My mother cocked her head to the side. "Well, yes. Aside from that cold I caught recently, I've been doing great. Why do you ask?"

Well, the answer to that couldn't be explain in a couple of sentences, so I went with good old, "Just asking." It's a good way to let your parents know just how much you're concerned for them.

All joking aside, I felt a bit uneasy with my mom's answer. It's been quiet. Too quiet. Maybe I'm just over thinking things. It's only been one night after all. Then again, trouble's already found me. I honestly had second thoughts about all this, but where was the provider when you needed him? My mysterious visitor wasn't making things easy for me. At any rate, my hands were full. Mom and Dad seem okay, so I'll take that as I'm doing things like I'm supposed to.

Let's just hope Hilbert doesn't get to out of my hands.

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"Snivy, use Tackle!"

The command was shouted in a clear voice, but the question now was if the receiver would pull through.

Snivy, aka green-snake-with-legs, hunched down as much as its tiny legs would permit it before pushing itself forward, face set in a grimace.

Before him stood a plump mouse, brown fur against an underbelly of tan skin. It stood on its hind legs, flinching when it saw the Snivy rushing towards him. Not a second after it had, it too pushed back on its legs, meeting up with the opposing Pokemon in a violent smack. The force threw them back, both skidding as they settled their balance.

"Use it again!" Hilbert yelled again.

With a disgruntled grunt, Snivy pushed forward again, this time catching the other Pokemon off guard. It yelled out in pain, sailing through the air to the opposite end of the road.

"Yes!" the trainer pumped a fist into the air. "Time to finish this off! Snivy, now use Vine Whip!"

This time, the movement did not come. Or at least, it was attempted.

Although its face harbored more enthusiasm than earlier, I saw a hint of doubt in the Pokemon's red eyes before it took to the air. It extended its arms out in front, eyes set in a serious glint.

In the seconds following its actions, nothing happened, and Snivy fell into an ungraceful pile afterwards.

Hilbert's hand slapped into his face.

Where I was in all of this? Well, I was sitting behind him next to a tree he placed his belongings next to, chuckling to myself. No matter how many times I saw Snivy fall flat on his face, it would always be funny. And this was the eighth time he's done this. For some reason, every time Hilbert ordered him to use this 'Vine Whip', the reptile Pokemon couldn't pull it off.

From my left, gravel shuffled around. Seconds later, a streak of black and red flew into my field of vision.

"TEPIG!" It shouted, rushing towards the target Pokemon. It crashed into it, sending the poor thing flying again, although this time it managed to collect itself quickly. Bruises littered it brown fur, but it looked like it wasn't going down without a fight.

Before Hilbert could tell the little piglet to do anything, Tepig snorted, and to the surprise of all those present, flames erupted from its nose...

...right onto Snivy's tail.

The reaction was instantaneous. Snivy gave a pained cry, eyes dilating in its panic as it ran around, running straight for the mouse. It turned tail towards the grass, but Snivy managed to quickly close the distance between the two, tail slamming into the other's side.

About a minute later, both Pokemon were collapse atop of one another, smoke rising from their charred skin.

"Well, that could have gone better," Hilbert muttered under his breath a few minutes later. He held a red container in his hand, the spray tap squirting on the charred skin of Snivy. Its eyes were squinted, body shivering throughout the medicinal affair.

"Well, that's it for today." He placed the bottle back into his bag, putting everything in back in order, leaving the Pokemon alone to recover. The small task will leave him occupied for a few minutes, so I got up to my feet, groaning slightly at the loss of feel in my legs, before heading towards Snivy. It still had its head lowered, its tiny hands at its sides, playing with the dirt.

Then Tepig came along, in all its cheerful glory, completely ignoring the fact that it had burned Snivy earlier, rushing towards it with flames coming from its snout.

"Hey, Tepig!" The little piglet screeched into a halt, thankfully some merciful feet away from the green snake. It turned its head my way, eyes blinking – dare I say, adorably. "Uh, please leave Snivy alone for a little bit. I don't think it wants you anywhere near it after what just happened. Why don't you go play with Oshawott?"

I think saying the word 'play' clicked on a switch. Its eyes widen and it begun to spin around in place, running in the opposite direction of Snivy. By the time I got near it, it looked away from watching the hyperactive piglet and up to me, eyes unreadable.

[...Thank you,] Snivy muttered as I got closer. I stopped a step short.

"Come again?"

The little green snake jumped to its feet, tail whipping behind it. [Nothing.] He took a few tentative steps forward before turning back. [Well, human, are you just going to stand there gawking or are you going to actually be doing something useful?]

I was not impressed by its attempt to sound haughty, especially not with what happened earlier. Instead of feeling angry at being dissed, I crouched next to it, observing. "You sure you're well enough to be up?"

[Listen, human, don't bother trying to act concern!] It snapped, closing in to my face. [What happened earlier was a mishap. A mistake! It won't happen again.]

"Hmm... Mistake or not, that was serious. You burned up like dry grass. Then again I was surprised when Tepig snorted flames. Is that normal?"

Snivy developed a confused look. [Of course, it's natural. Tepig is a fire type. It was only a matter of time before it happened. Tepig used Ember.]

"Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me it's natural for a _pig_ to know how to breathe _fire_?"

[Yes!] It threw its arms in the air. [Ember is one of the basic fire attacks. I should know. There was another Tepig back at that white place that knew it and kept trying to burn the tails of the other Snivys. I didn't think it'd be so painful.]

I found no words to use for commenting. Several things stood out as unusual, but I didn't know where to start.

[Hey, guys!]

We both looked up to the blue otter, bounding over to us with arms upraised. [Hey, hey! Snivy! Miss Girlie! There's a Pokemon over here!]

[What kind of Pokemon?] Snivy answered.

[While I was cleaning my scalchop, I saw a white furry Pokemon over there by the bushes!] He pointed a white paw to the direction he came from.

[And you didn't fight it because?]

Oshawott blinked, as if it were contemplating his words. His eyes then watered, paws reaching up to its face. [But... it looked so strong...]

[You have got to be kidding me...] Snivy stomped a tiny foot on the ground. [Do I have to handle everything here?] Speaking as if it ran the place, wow.

Miraculously, it remembered my presence, and so it tipped its pointed head to my direction. [Well, what are you waiting for, girl? Go get the boy!]

And there lies a dilemma. I mentally went over how to put my problem in words to Snivy when I heard a scream behind me.

"Get away from me!" Hilbert yelled at the top of his lungs. Mostly pure noise spewed from his mouth as he scrambled away from something at the corner of the open field. By the time I managed to catch up to him, a quick reunion due to his running towards my – and Snivy's – general direction, I snuck a peak at his unknown assailant.

Looking like a bundle of fur with legs, a Lillipup came running towards us, yapping at the boy who managed to grab its attention.

"Snivy, use Tackle on it!" Hilbert commanded the fear no longer in his voice now that it stood behind something to protect it. Snivy rolled its eyes, but surprisingly did as it was told, rushing towards the dog Pokemon.

At the upcoming unknown green subject, the Lillipup slid to a stop, and managed to jump to its right. Snivy crashed into the ground, but recovered right away, jumping back to put some distance between them.

"Attacking full-on like that isn't going to get us anywhere..." Hilbert continued to mutter even when those words died out, his thumb and index finger cupping his chin. His eyes then widened as something dawn to him. "Snivy, use Leer!"

The green snake flinched; head turning and showing its own widen red eyes. It hesitantly turned back to its opponent, mouth hanging open slightly. With a firm shake of its head it stared back at Lillipup, eyes hardening in a glare.

I call it a 'glare', because I think it was listening to Hilbert. But the matter was that the look was just too... cute. Its eyes were squinting at the dog, its nose scrunched upright and its mouth set into a crooked snarl.

Without even realizing it I burst out laughing. Standing next to me, Oshawott broke out into a fit as well. Even the Lillipup started, or at least I thought it was. It started yelping these high pitched kinds of chirps. Pretty fun to listen to, actually.

The source of our amusement stopping it's glaring, and looked at every one of us in confusion. Only Hilbert wasn't laughing, though his slack jaw would continue to fuel my fun. Tears were already spilling from my eyes once I managed to calm down to giggles.

"Mew, are you serious?" The tone Hilbert spoke those words effectively put an end to my giggles, my eyes looking over to see him seething on the spot. "He not only doesn't know Vine Whip, he also can't even Leer?"

Snivy's head fell to its chest, the darkening of its cheeks proof of its shame at the words. Something bubbled in my chest at the sight, but I could only settle to glaring at Hilbert as he looked my way to the ground. "Oshawott, your turn."

The Pokemon looked at him questioning before looking at me. I shrugged my shoulders. Honestly, I had no say in the manner. I wasn't its trainer or whatever.

Reluctantly, he walked forward, a paw resting on its scalchop in preparation for combat. The Lillipup, laughing fit gone too, continue to keep its eyes trained on Snivy – whose head was still bowed down – though it started backing away slowly.

"All right! Start out with a Tail Whip!"

Oshawott pushed forward, turning in mid-air, so when it reached Lillipup, its tail begun whipping its face. From where they stood, a whole mess of body and limbs ensued, Lillipup struggling to get its attacker off while Oshawott continued to whip it.

"Now use Tackle!"

The blue otter jumped back a way, leaving a stunned Lillipup, before pushing away to finish it off, and –

"HEY, WAIT!"

The shout made everyone to jump in place, with Oshawott losing its momentum and falling flat on the ground. Sounds of hurrying footsteps came from down the pasture, disrupting the battle.

From over the grass's stature, two heads peaked out, one with a red cap and the other with a rolling bed of brown hair. The pair stumbled through, leaving muttering words in their wake as they approached us. Oshawott squealed softly before hurrying over behind one of my legs. If it thinks it found a good hiding spot, it needs to think again.

"Hey, dude, stop! That's my Lillipup!" The owner of the red cap was a young boy, a brunette with black hair. The over-sized red shirt and sagging shorts told me he was around the preteen range.

"Huh?" With Hilbert's intelligent answer, the boy approached with exaggerated stomps. He glared at Hilbert, arms crossed at his chest.

"You're not going to get away with this, you thief!" The visitor's companion, a rather pretty girl in a yellow sailor school uniform, joined him, her hands on her hips and a disapproving look on her face.

Hilbert's eyes slightly, looking incredulously at the accusers. "What do you mean 'thief'?"

"Don't play dumb!" The boy answered for him. "You're the jerk who took Jimmy's Patrat! And now you're trying to steal my Lillipup? I'll have you know Officer Jenny's on her way here!"

All Hilbert did in response was blink. Couldn't exactly blame him, since I was still processing how all of a sudden he's being accused of a crime. Soon enough, he sighed, a pained looking crossing his face before he looked back at kids.

"Listen, I wasn't trying to capture your Lillipup. Believe me; I'm not exactly fond of these guys." That was an understatement. "Your Lillipup attacked me; I was just fighting back, is all."

Lillipup barked, in agreement or something else, I don't know. What I did know was that now it seemed to have noticed me, and was staring at me curiously. I promptly ignored it and tuned back to Hilbert's speech.

"Besides, I don't have a Patrat. I've been on this route all day battling against wild Pokemon. I haven't run into anyone else until now, with you two."

Whether they believed him or not, I couldn't tell. The gravity of the situation hovered, but between Lillipup barking at Snivy who still stayed in place, and Oshawott yawning indifferently, it honestly felt thin. The two relaxed their guard and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Hilbert honestly sounded confused.

"Sorry, it's just that..." The boy looked at him quizzically. "Were you the one screaming earlier?"

Their answer was a swift shift of pale flesh to red-red dye. The laughing renewed.

"Oh, wow, I didn't – pffft!" The boy wiped a tear from under an eye. "I never imagined something like this to happen. You don't look like a thief or nothing. Sorry about all this."

"We were in a bit of a panic." The girl took over effectively after the boy. "We all just got our Pokemon, even if they are from this general area, and well, that is..."

Hilbert scratched the back of his head sheepishly, blush disappearing from his face. "Has something been going on around here? You mentioned a thief."

The boy nodded, changing moods quickly. "Yeah, we were hanging out some ways from Straiton when some jerk showed up and took my friend's Pokemon. We tried chasing after him, but we lost him deeper into the route, which is saying something, because my friends and I know this place like the back of our hands. Yet that guy managed to lose us."

Hilbert listened to his words, hands trembling at his side. His head whipped from side to side afterward.

"Oh, Mew, no..." His words trailed off and he sprinted around the open space.

"TEPIG!"

My eyes stretch out, my own head looking every which way for a sign of the fire-snorting piglet.

[Tepig!] Oshawott cried out from behind me, its movements frantic. [Oh no! Snivy, are you listening?]

Oh, yeah. Snivy's heard, all right. The green snake finally held its head high, red eyes dilated in uncertainty at the new turn of things.

"Oh, Mew, no..." Hilbert said again with short of breath, slowing to a stop next to the concern pair of kids.

"Not you, too, man!" Red Capped yelled.

"I have three Pokemon." Hilbert took a much needed breath. "A Snivy, an Oshawott, and a Tepig. My Tepig's missing now!"

"Don't panic!" The girl hesitantly laid a hand on Hilbert's shoulder. "We'll help find your Pokemon." She turned to her companion. "Roland! Now's a good time!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Kenta!" The dog Pokemon barked at attention. "We need your help, buddy! Help us find this guy's Pokemon, will ya?"

'Kenta' – its name? – barked in confirmation, and lowered its head at once to begin its sniff-out.

"I guess I'll take out my Pokemon, too." The young girl fingered a red and white capsule in one hand. "I don't know how much help she'll be, but she has a tendency to find the least expected things at times. Go Mary!"

The ball was thrown, and after the midair breach, the flash of light took a feline shape. Flash fading into a dark purple, a pair of ears twitched as the cat stretched its body out.

[Okay, where am I?] She purred big green eyes aimed at her trainer. [Mali, what's wrong?] A tone of concern emphasized her speech.

The girl relayed the situation to the new Pokemon, features unchanging even when she was done. Kenta came running back, stopping next to the feline.

[Looks like you and me are going to be working together, Mary!] It chirped happily, licking a portion of the cat's face before running off in a cheerful fit.

The cat growled slightly before turning to look at her surroundings. [That imbecile will never learn to keep its filthy tongue away from me.] She licked a paw, and begun to clean the offended part with it. [Anyway, who might you all be, hmm?] I assumed she meant Snivy and Oshawott since her head was turned their way.

[I'm an Oshawott!] The blue otter proclaimed paw extended out. Snivy remained silent.

[What I meant was your names. Didn't your trainer give you a nickname?]

[A nickname?]

[Yes. It's a way for humans to identify us from other Pokemon, if they so wish.]

[So wait a minute, you're not a 'Mary'? I thought you were a 'Mary'.]

[No, you idiot.] Snivy spoke up at last. [She's a Purrloin. 'Mary' is her nickname.]

Oh, now I get it. Oshawott, too, a paw lifting to show its enlightenment. [I get it now!]

Mary giggled. [Well, aren't you cute?] The blue otter blushed. Mary giggled again and – to my surprise – rose to its forelegs, walking towards one direction. [Best get to searching. I have a trainer to please.]

[Oh, uh, I'll come with!] Oshawott ambled after her. My eyes followed them for a little bit, finding their interactions cute. But now wasn't the time to be acting like this. We had a missing piglet to find. I could have joined them, though judging by the way Mary spoke, she looked like she could take care of herself. Oshawott should be given its ten cents, too, since I'm sure it'll be motivated into action if something drastic happens. Besides, I think it's better if I'm with Hilbert. I'm supposed to be watching him after all.

So I headed towards him, finding him near a bit of a ditch with the tall grass. I could hear the girl shrieking even from where I had been, as Hilbert and the other boy pushed aside whatever blade of grass offended them out of the way. I entered the patch no problem, watching my footsteps nonetheless, only becoming aware of another presence when I heard rustling behind me. A shadow loomed over me for a moment, and before I could turn around, Snivy's body phased through me, soon lost in the see of green. Seconds later, the grass parted and I caught sight of its red eyes.

[Are you coming or not?] It huffed, tail whipping behind it as it caught up with the humans. I shrugged going along with it.

"...saw it somewhere around here." Hilbert finished saying once I was close enough. The three were approaching a line of trees erect in the midst of the route. The other end of the route could be seen the screen of leaves and branches.

"Straiton is further down this path," the boy, Roland, mentioned, "but I don't think the thief could have made it this way without anyone of us noticing. Mali and I came from that way."

"Maybe he went around."

"That's a possibility."

"I don't see signs of a struggle, either..." I added my two cents, even though they wouldn't hear it. From the corner of my eye, I saw Snivy's head lift in attention, nose pointed up.

[Hey,] he sniffed audibly. [I smell something.]

"Like what...?"

He sniffed again. [Like me when Tepig used Ember.]

Everything stopped right there for a second. "Wait a minute... Snivy!" The snake jumped at the sudden way I called it for attention. "Where's the scent coming from?" Snivy pointed to its right. I bit my lips as I tried to think of how to put my current thoughts into words. "You need to find a way to get Hilbert's attention, Snivy. He's needs to know about this! It could be about Tepig!"

Snivy didn't move fast enough for my taste, but he stepped up in front of Hilbert and the rest, crying out in a soft tone.

"What's wrong?" Of course, its trainer didn't get a verbal response, staring wide eyed as his Pokemon ran off. Snivy had to turn back, crying in a sharp pitch that had the teens flinching, to urge them to move, with me already ahead of them.

We didn't get far, just a bit of a run from where Hilbert and I were originally. The smell of burnt grass assaulted my nose as we approached its location. "Oh Mew," the girl said as we got closer. To be fair, I'm surprised a forest fire hadn't broken out. The patch of grass was truthfully burned out and black, no longer the radiant green color as the surrounding plants. Evidence of the hasty attempt to turn off the fire came in the form of harsh footprints marked into the sensitive ashes. A trail of ash in the shape of the shoes leads towards the pack of trees nearby.

"This has to be Tepig..." Hilbert whispered, slowly lowering himself to the batch.

"Must be. I mean, unless there's someone else with a fire Pokemon down this route." Roland spoke.

Taking a step forward, I flinched involuntarily at the restless sounds of Pokemon hidden behind the grass. Boy, were they not happy.

"Hey, let's get out of here." Snivy looked up at me, with a nod. It slithered forth, emerging between the others' legs, hissing under its breath. The girl shrieks and immediately ran the opposite direction. The boys' offered a bit more of resistance, Hilbert going so far as to curse. Not very nice, although I don't think Snivy heard him.

Not fast enough. The bush rustled, everyone stopping in their tracks to turn and identify the newcomer.

Roland barked a bit farther into the greenery, but Mary came jumping out of the grass, landing on its hind legs, fore paws out with claws at the ready. A moment later, the Oshawott came stumbling out, rolling in the dirt before righting itself. The moment everyone appeared to be battle ready, the grass rustle once more, the disturber emerged. I took one look at the familiar pink-and-tan hues.

"Wait a minute… weren't you back in the other place?" My voice must have disturbed the Pokemon. Its ears twitched in response, blue eyes glancing up, looking in my direction. I blinked, astounded to see the amount of hurt behind them. Then again, I must be really blind to not notice the burns scattered around its body.

[Idiot!] I heard Snivy hiss. It had moved over in front of me, tiny paws stretched out. [That's not the same one from the Pokemon Center!] Its red eyes narrowed, though its mouth failed to move in the proper way for a sneer.

The Audino, looking redder than pink, stumbled forward, eyes half closed. It looked wary, as wary as it can look that is. As if it didn't already look serious, it looked certainly worrying. Not long after that calculation, it crashed to the ground.

The other kids yelped, uncertainty on their faces. Only Hilbert had the guts to walk forward, a curious look mixed in on his face.

"Tepig…" I couldn't be sure if I heard him right or not, but judging by the mess around, it was the best I could get. The boy crouched next to the Pokemon, arms going to its sides, lifting it into his arms. Mali and Roland scrambled around Hilbert, both in shambles at what to do next. I could take the hint.

"Hey! Snivy! The bag!" It was the first thing to come out of my mouth. The Pokemon whipped around, wide-eyed.

[Get it yourself!]

I snarled. "Just get it to him, dang it!"

Its eyes went wide, and though it hesitated too much for my taste, it eventually made its move forward. Dragging the bag by one of the straps, it approached the others.

"Hey, is that your Pokemon, too?" Roland asked. Hilbert didn't answer, just looking at Snivy with a look I couldn't read.

"Potions help for a bit, but… I just used the last of my Burn Heals." Oshawott shuffled at the latter part of his words. "I'll have to take it to a Pokemon Center. Are we close to Straiton?"

"Close enough. If you go down this way, we can make it in a few minutes."

The pair helped settle the Audino onto Hilbert's back. Guess we were leaving soon, and taking the Pokemon with us. I took a look around us. Not much of a mess was made while we settled here. Cleaning up would be really quick and easy if it was started.

With a gesture, I caught the attention of the otter and snake, along with the other two. The four gathered by my feet. "Hey, we're leaving now. Let's gather the things together, all right?"

Hilbert left his stuff in order, under the same tree where all of this mess started. Oshawott followed behind me, after giving Mary a look, standing next to a few books the boy left out. Snivy didn't bother helping just casting a weird look at the two of us as Oshawott headed over to Hilbert.

"'You know where the Center is, right?" Roland gave him a response I didn't catch. I went on ahead of them all, wanting to check for myself if Tepig really did just up and left. I can't believe it, though. For it to just get up and run away like that seems completely unlikely. The three of them had a chance to run off a while back, but they didn't. I mean, they weren't exactly being watched. And neither one of them openly responded to Hilbert's request. Whatever the case, I highly doubt it left on its own.

Something was up. It just had to be that.

I continued on ahead, the Pokemon trailing behind me. The others' voices carried on behind me, voicing their own take on the going-ons. All but one voice could be heard through it all. For a moment I thought maybe we had left Hilbert behind but then Snivy spoke up below me, [Geez, he looks so pathetic carrying that pink ball of fur around.]

I opened my mouth to retort when my words died out at the sound of a scream ahead of me.

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**A/N:** Not going to bother defending myself at the lateness of this chapter. I lost the Pokemon groove nearing the end of the year/beginning of the year due to a growing fondness for Vocaloid. I'm greatly ashamed.

Nonetheless, I am determined to finish this fanfiction, especially since I have motivation coming from the updates of Pokemon Black2 and White2 coming up. ^^

_Ja mata ne_!


	8. Stranger Stranger 2

_**Stranger Does Stranger Things**_

_**2.2**_

_**Ambling Twilight Pranks**_

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The city beyond the grassland differed from what I had in mind. Not exactly a large place, but it was surprisingly fancy looking. Of course, a number of condos lined up around the exterior, leading to the inside in an orderly fashion, all in file. They towered over me, different shades of gray and brown for each and the other structure. For any other person, it might not have been much of an interesting sight, but it was my first time seeing such tall apartments. Did the other city before this one had such large architect? I don't remember anything from the day before.

I was so lost in the sights I almost forgot the reason why I started paying attention around me so intently.

"Oh, my gosh! That's your Snivy, too? Oh, my gosh!"

Well, yeah.

[Please… please… get this human… off of me…] If Snivy could turn blue, I pretty sure it was doing it now. I stared helplessly as the girl who currently held the snake-like Pokemon in her arms continued to squeeze the breath out of it.

"Hey, please! Let 'em go! You're going to kill him!"

After that little outburst, Hilbert managed to pry the suffocating Snivy from the girl's grip. He placed it down by my feet – not that he knew.

[Dear Arceus!] Snivy gasped out between breathes. [What an infuriating human girl!] I arched an eyebrow. I didn't feel any sort of sympathy for it. It had it coming for what it said earlier to the initial victim of the 'hug'. Poor Oshawott kept its distance, hiding behind a nearby bush with only its white head peeking out from the green.

The source of its fear giggled in place, blonde hair radiant and curved rather nicely around her pretty face. "Oh, I can't help it! Your Pokemon are so cute! Ever since I left home, I've been seeing so many Pokemon!"

This girl… I have to admire her enthusiasm. In the whole fifteen minutes she's been all smiles and sunshine, as silly as that sounds. Pretty bright attire, too. A green hat held snug over her head, her white dress kept in place with the orange vest she wore. Orange socks covered her feet with a pair of white slip-ons. Her hands would ring around the green satchel around her body whenever she stopped for a moment for a breathe, green eyes shimmering excitedly.

Clearly, Hilbert was taken by her. Literally at a loss of words.

From behind us, the whooshing of sliding doors signaled the approaching people. Everyone present turned around, taking in the arrival of Roland and Mali.

"Hi, dude. The Audino is doing fine now." The young lad spoke, standing next to Hilbert, arm on the boy's shoulder. He only gave the gesture an arched brow in question. "We saw it inside just now when we dropped off our Pokemon. I think it'll be fine."

"I think he gets it." Mali rolled her eyes at her companion, before smiling over at the other two. "Thank you for helping us, Miss Bianca."

The girl, Bianca, gasped, looking affronted. "'Miss' Bianca? No, no, no, you don't have to be so formal to me! Just Bianca will be fine."

"Ah, okay." Mali turned to Hilbert. "Hey, aren't you going to heal your Pokemon?"

"Well, I was, but…"

"Oh!" Bianca's wail was loud enough to cause everyone present to wince. A few people walking by gave them weird looks. The only one who paid no mind to the attention brought to them was the blonde. "I'm so sorry! I kept you from tending to your Pokemon, didn't I!"

"Uh, well…"

"Oh, nnnoooooo! How can I call myself a Pokemon trainer if I kept a fellow comrade from healing his Pokemon!"

"B-Bianca…!"

"This is horrible! If the maiden finds out about this, she'll-!"

"BIANCA!"

I think everyone in the district was now watching the little drama unfolding here. Hilbert's face lit up in red. Tears actually ran down Bianca's face, her eyes all moist with unshed ones. Roland and Mali had long retreated into the building we stood in front of, watching everything unfold from the safety of the screen doors. They thought smart.

"Look you don't have to be like that. Let's – Let's just go _inside_." I think if it weren't for all the people present, Hilbert would have gotten on his hands and knees to beg.

Regardless of what happened earlier, Bianca quickly understood. "Y-yes, let's go."

After gathering the loose Pokemon, the two trainers went inside the red roof building. A sense of déjà vu came over me at the familiar sight. Different city, different people, and yet this place manage to look the same as the one before it. Roland and Mali had made their way a front counter, where a woman with pink hair stood behind it.

Now, I don't know if this has ever happened to anyone, but I actually did a double take on the spot.

"Isn't she the same person from the other clinic?"

Snivy, who was curled over Hilbert's right shoulder turned to address me, a born expression on its face. [Don't know. Don't care. I just want to _sleep_…] It returned to its curled position.

Oshawott's head peeked over the other shoulder, black eyes going from the front of the room back to me. [We're going to eat soon?] It was sort of cute, watching it act like that.

A smile appeared on my face. "I think so."

At the counter, Oshawott was practically bouncing in place. Snivy kept giving a look for him to stop, his healing tail flickering in irritation behind him. The nurse finished attending to another group of kids before turning to us.

"Well, what have we here?" The words were said with a bit of an accent. I took note of the way she had pronounced 'well' and 'we', a bit of emphasize used for the words. She didn't sound like the nurse from the other clinic, who seemed to be forceful all the way.

"I want to heal… all of my Pokemon." Hilbert's eyes dropped down a bit.

"This Snivy's tail, what happened to it?" The nurse's voice grew grave; her eyes now had a serious look. "It looks like he had a burn."

"Yes, I don't know why it still looks so bad…"

In case you're wondering about all the seriousness, the little green guy's tail still looked a bit purplish from the burn it got from Tepig. Hilbert's face took up a worried look as he studied the injury further. "I sprayed it with some Burn Heal, though. I don't know what happened…"

"I see." The nurse's face softens at hearing his explanation. Her hands hovered over the Pokemon in question, lingering over the burned appendage. She gauged its reaction of her touch – a very noticeable wince – before retreating.

"It's as I thought; it got infected. When a Pokemon comes in contact with an ailment, it is highly recommended for it to be healed and then returned to its Pokeball in order to reduce chance of infection and to help with the healing process."

The look of guilt on Hilbert's face was missed by no one.

"So you kept it out?" The accusing tone returned.

"I'm sorry… I'm not used to keeping them inside… and I had no idea something like this would happen…" The young trainers voice trailed off, red faced at the many eyes on him.

With a sigh, the Pokemon nurse settled the two Pokemon on the trays, lifting them away to head on back. "I don't approve of the way you left your Pokemon suffering, but we'll do everything in our power to rid its suffering." She turned and left.

Oshawott peaked from behind one of the nurse's arm. [Will I see you when I come back?] It wasn't until the nurse disappeared around the corner that I realized the question was aimed at me.

Leaving behind a very depressed Hilbert.

"Dammit…" He sunk to his feet, slumped over the counter.

"Hey, it's okay, Hilbert. You didn't know."

"Yeah, Roland's right. It's not every day a Pokemon gets burn in this side of the region. Aside from the nurses, not a lot of people know how to treat Pokemon burns." Mali joined in.

Bianca, miraculously, stayed quiet in all of this. She stood behind the three, a hand on her hip with the other posed on her chin. She eyed the back of Hilbert's head with a look that sent me off edge. Finally, she spoke, "Well, it's actually really simple. I mean, when you get a burn you wouldn't just spray water or ice on it, do you?"

The other three heads turned.

"If you wanted your Pokemon to get better, a little bit more attention will have been nice."

Now all three heads stared at her with mouths gaping.

"At least, that's what you should do!" Bianca's face erupted into cheer, the solemn look gone in a second. "When a Pokemon is in need, one has to take care of it, of course! I mean, that's how I take care of my little Chin-Chi whenever he gets burn from practice. It happens, but I'll feel bad if his coat got dirty, so I take extra care of him, and—"

"Okay, okay, we get the picture, girl. Slow down. You're going a bit too fast." My eyes slipped over Mali to Hilbert, who watched Bianca with curious eyes.

"Hey, Bianca," The girl in question glanced up. "How much do you know about Pokemon?"

"Hmm, I can't pretend to know everything about them, but I've been raising mine since I was a little kid."

Hilbert's eyes lit up. "Is that so? Well, can you tell me a thing or two about them, then? Actually, is it okay for me to look at your Pokemon?"

"Sure thing, but, uh…" The blonde began to twiddle her fingers. "We'll have to go outside. My Pokemon doesn't really like being inside buildings."

Roland and Mali stayed behind to wait on the Pokemon. I followed after the pair, passing through the center's sliding door to the outside again. Thankfully, the small crowd present before was gone, and the three of us made off. It occurred to me that Hilbert most likely didn't know his way around the city – and neither did I, for that matter – but Bianca walked on with what could only be described as familiarity. She weaved her way through the teetering crowd of people still up and about even with the setting sun, all the way to a park I only knew was a ways from the where we came from.

"Right, this is good…" She glanced around, almost in a nervous gesture, but it was gone before I could look into it further. From the green bag on her right she pulled out an accustomed red-and-white device.

"All right, this is my first baby! I've been with her since she was born!" Bianca pecked the sphere before throwing it into the air.

In the resulting flash came a large ovular shape with large burly arms and bended shorts legs as support for its hunched body. The little stub of a tail on its twitched as the light gave way to expose its red hide.

Its enormous eyes blinked at me. My eyes blinked at the literally flaming brows it had. Didn't that… well, burn him?"

[Hello there. Danny happy to see friends of Bianca!] Its voice boomed, and I had to give props for sounding so cheery. It stomped on over where I was. Again, I failed to quickly remember of the intangibility given to me by this 'dream'. In my defense, when something twice your size and four times your mass comes stampeding in your direction, you're not just going to stand there smelling the flowers nearby. I screamed my head off – not that anyone else could hear me – and tried to run from it. Emphasis on tried. Those arms could cover a lot of distance! Fortunately, it went right through me, and I immediately stopped my embarrassing charade at seeing it before me, looking around in confusion. Gosh, was I relieved!

"Hey, Danny, ol' girl, where are you going? I want to introduce you to a friend!" Bianca hollered at her Pokemon. Hilbert was staring at the ground in surprise. Curiosity got the best of me, and when I looked I saw the slight burnt marks on the grass from where 'Danny' had ran across. Are you serious…?

"This here is Danny." Bianca exclaimed, running to stand next to the red monstrosity. She threw her arms around its large body, all the while a smile on her face. "She's the best friend a girl can ask! Well, for a Pokemon, anyway." An abashed look took form on her face after the last comment. "She's been by my side since I was a kid, so she's means the world to me."

[You best friend of Danny, too!] She growled, pumping its head against her trainer's torso.

Both Hilbert and I stared at admittedly touching, but still weird scene. Hilbert looked a little uncertain, anyway. "She's a big girl, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is." Bianca and Danny started making what I assumed they think are cute faces at one another. "When she was a baby, I could carry her around, but now she carries me around. That just shows you how much she's grown."

"So, wait, Pokemon can get as big as this?" Good question, because if Pokemon can get bigger than this, we'll have a problem.

"Yes, they can. It's called evolution." She paused in place. "I can tell you're just starting out on your journey."

Hilbert crossed his arms. "Oh, what, oh, what gave it away?"

Bianca giggled. "Sorry. A lot of things gave you away, really, but I wanted to talk out loud." She smiled. "If you want I can help you out."

The boy looked thoughtful for a moment. "Some hints would be nice… It's true, I just started off. I tried finding out a thing or two about taking care of Pokemon, but I'm not much for books…" His voice trailed off at that. Brown eyes looked up sharp at the blonde a few moments later. "But I want to know more, even if means reading some more or getting help from somebody. Anything you have to spare to help out.

"…but not now. I'm going back to the Pokemon Center to check on the others. They're probably done by now. You coming back with me?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm staying here for now. I think I'll let my Pokemon get a little bit of exercise now. There's still some sun left so I'm going to enjoy it for now. I'll wait for you here."

Hilbert hesitated. "…Oh, okay, I'll go back on my own."

Let's see what the chances of that happening were.

'

'

Well, we made it back to the Pokemon Center. AFTER THE SUN SETTED.

I don't know what is it about… certain people… that keep them from accepting help when they obviously NEED it. I'm not sparing Bianca from this either. She should KNOW this is Hilbert's first time here and should have volunteered to help him back.

We went from place to place; spending God knows how long trying to head back in place. As it turns out, when we made it back, we've only been gone for about forty minutes. Still, the sun's rays were the only hint of light left, the sun itself gone beyond the tall buildings. I gazed at the sight for a while before phasing through the closed screen doors.

"…make a full recovery!" I heard Mali shout. Nearly every head in the front hobby looked at the trio of teens in front of the counter. Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I moved in closer.

"That's good to know, but…" Hilbert didn't look too happy for someone who was told his Pokemon will make a full recovery. "It's too bad for Snivy, though." Oh.

"Yeah, but Nurse Joy said it'll go away in time. We just need to back off and let Snivy's own body take care of the healing process."

"Don't let it get to you. It wasn't your fault, okay?" Roland sat on the nearest available seats, stroking Kenta on his lap. The dog Pokemon seemed content with the little scratches it was getting behind the ears.

"Mmm-hmmm." Hilbert's gaze fell pass the counter, turning back after a little while. "Why haven't they let me see him yet?"

The other two trainers looked at one another.

"Nevermind." He turned tail. I looked off at his retreating form, wondering what his problem is.

[You know for a human, I really like him. Rough around the edges, but he's getting there.] Mali's cat Pokemon, Mary, appeared as if out of nowhere, sitting a little too close to my leg. She looked up at me. [He appears sad, doesn't he?]

"Yeah, he does. Do…" I didn't know if I could ask her for help, but what the heck. I'll try. "Do you know where Snivy and the others are being kept?"

She nodded her head. [Follow me.]

Normally, if a tangible person, possibly from this world heard her speak, he or she would have told her how difficult of a task that could be. The advantages I have are so handy. Following the little bugger proved to be quite the chore. Mary zipped from room to room, keeping out of sight from the pink-and-cream Pokemon clones. A few of them tried to stop me, but must have assumed I was a trainer who need the way to a room, going off without much of a comment. In due time, without much event, we reached a room.

[Hey, boys, are you up?] Inside, Oshawott and Snivy moved at the greeting.

[Yeah! You're here! I was feeling lonely!] Oshawott jumped off the bed it had been placed on, heading in my direction. With nothing much, to do, I stood there, watching it stop in front of me. [I'm a healthy Oshawott! Yes, I am!]

Snivy hadn't spoken a word the whole. I almost wondered if it had gone mute. Moving in a little closer, it stirred with my proximity. [Hello, human.] It was curled up on its side, face turned away from all of us.

I didn't really know what to say. My eyes took in the burned tail, with the purple blemish which served as the injury's memento. Nothing like this has ever happened to me, so I wouldn't know the first thing to say.

First thing to come to mind is fine, right? "It doesn't look bad. If you don't eat the food they brought for you, your body won't have the nutrients to heal the wound." I gestured at the untouched food dish by its side.

It reacted, turning its head my way, and glaring that cute glare it can do. [No kidding, I didn't know.] Okay, I can tell that's sarcasm.

"Well, if you have energy to be like that, you can eat." I said it all with a smile. Deep down, I was relieved it answered me. I'm not sure if it's fine, but if I continued talking to it, I'm taking its mind off of the problem.

[You look pretty tough now, actually.] Mary climbed her way onto the bedding, tail flicking in amusement. Oshawott had made it back to the table, settling before me. It was bouncing in place, staring at the still form of its fellow Pokemon.

Snivy laid there a bit more, eyes lowering to the table before lifting back up. It lifted itself to its feet, straightening into full height. [Hey, girl…]

I assumed he was talking to me, though Mary is a girl technically. Still, I bended down a bit so it could tell it had my attention. "Yeah?"

It sat down, back straight, and pointy nose in the air. [Can you show me where the boy?]

"… Course. You're well enough to walk?"

It nodded its head. [Resting is all well and good, but I think the boy will have a heart attack if we don't catch up to him. This was an unforeseen crisis, but we managed to survive it. Might not want to make this into a bigger deal than it really is.] Well, if he puts it that way, who am I to disagree?

[Yeah, let's go!] All the energy pent up inside Oshawott burst through when jumped all the way from the bed to the door. He landed after a mid-air twirl on his feet, dramatically taking a bow afterwards. It knew what it did was impressive.

Mary led the way, strutting like she owned the place, while the rest of us followed behind. Oshawott skipped ahead, and Snivy kept at pace with me. I could almost see the end of the hallway when Mary took a right turn into a room. Oshawott immediately went after her, leaving Snivy and I confused in the hall. Before I could even think about following after her, the sound of stomping resounded from the center of the hall.

"Hey, wait a minute, isn't this—" Hilbert's voice was lost in the roar subsequently following. Out of reflex, I stormed straight through to the lobby. The sight greeting me at arriving was of Bianca's red primate Pokemon hugging Hilbert. "Hey, let me go! What the hell?"

"I didn't know you had a Darmintan, too, man! That is so cool!" Roland called out.

"No! This- isn't mine! Hey!" Hilbert grabbed the Pokemon by its humongous head, bringing her large stare right next to his face. "Where's Bianca?"

I guess she understood him since one of those bulky arms lifted to point a finger at the sliding doors. Receiving his answer, Hilbert let go of her and went right outside. Making my way after him, I approached Danny, who reached out a hand towards me. Of course, it fazed right through me, yet it didn't stop from making me feel irritated.

"Would you stop doing that?" Danny cocked her head at me.

[You're a weird human.] Well, it isn't every day one saw a tangible person, so I had to agree with her on that one in a way. Still, something felt off. The more I stared at Danny, the more I felt like something was wrong.

"Why aren't you with Bianca?" the Pokemon perked up.

[She told me to go inside and get the boy. She's waiting for me outside.] She headed back the way she came, only for the doors to open, and Hilbert to collide right into her. Due to certain laws of gravity, the force of the hit sent the smaller of two flying over the other's shoulder. Hilbert slide across the floor. Roland and Mali quickly ran to his direction, the two bombarding him with questions about his condition. He quickly shushes them, a desperate look on his voice pleading for them to lower their voices.

"I went outside and I couldn't find Bianca anywhere. Hey, Danny!" The Darminatan turned at attention. "Where's your trainer?"

[What's he talking about? My girl was outside when I came in here…] She stomped past the open doors outside. Hilbert walked past the other two to follow the Pokemon and I was right behind him.

At this point, it had already gotten dark outside. My vision could easily be described as horrid, but with all the open space in front of the center, I could not see even a hint of Bianca's unusual blonde head. Danny stood not far from the entranceway, scaring off passer byers when she strides near to them.

[That's funny… I know I left my girl here.] Concern clearly littered her words. My chest began to feel heavy with concern and pity for her. Hilbert walked up to the Pokemon, glancing back and forth around him. He started calling out Bianca's name, her Pokemon joining in with cries of its own.

[First Tepig going missing, now a missing human… What's happening around here?] Snivy caught up with the rest of us, looking at the scene his trainer and Danny were making.

"Maybe she got distracted by something?"

[I wouldn't put it past that human. She seems like the type to get easily distracted. She probably didn't go very far. If we search around well enough, we might find her and end this embarrassment.]

"Hey, it's not her fault she's worried." Gesturing at Danny, I noticed she was currently lifting an unsuspecting pair up into the air. "Yeah, we better hurry up before someone calls the police or something on us."

Not knowing where to look first, I followed Snivy around as it ran ahead. Alleyway after alleyway it looked in along with spreading out a look throughout the area. It took a few minutes for the same repetitive to change into something different.

[What do we have here?] Without even realizing it, we made past all the apartments lined up from both sides to a space with actual grass, no hint of civilization or touch by human hands, save for a steel structure standing out among the trees. But what _really_ caught my interest was the pair of people standing at the wide open structure.

'People' was putting it lightly. A person – a boy, a man, I couldn't tell – and what appeared to be a Pokemon, a furry little critter with black fur highlighted in red. Small in size, it was. Its large ears perked, head turning and aiming its large green eyes our way. It turned around fully in a hop, tail in the air whipping from side to side.

[Oh, have you come here to become a victim as well?] Its words were followed by a mischievous giggle.

'

'

'

**A/N:** Cliffhanger much? Well, the next part continues the ending. Probably another awkwardly written chapter, but I'll get better. I know I will. Anyway, this chapter is shorter than the one before. The chapters to come after this one will probably be around this length because of my writing schedule. I'm thinking of updating this story once a week due to the time devoted for writing it. Sorry if it appears to be short. I would like to write longer chapters, but I might lose myself to the writing, and it'll look crappier than it does now. One things for sure, I want to keep to this schedule, as much as I can anyway before I go back to class. It's about frickin' time I commete myself to something, even if it's just fanfiction.

Until next time. _Ja mata ne_!


	9. Stranger Stranger 3

_2.3_

_Stranger Does Stranger Things_

_The Mist_

'

''''''''''

'''''''''''''''''''

''''''''''

'

"What are you talking about?" I know. What a response, right? Not exactly the most brilliant way to answer such an ominous question. But seriously, who said that to someone? People with bad intentions, I guess, but the look on the fox-Pokemon's face looked deceiving. And yet again, you can't judge a book by its cover.

It giggled again, obviously finding amusement in my confusion. [If you keep coming this way, you'll fall prey to the Life Eater.]

Snivy frowned at its words. [Quit playing around. Did you see a girl with blonde hair go through here?]

[Oh, I don't know. I don't pay attention to any pathetic human if I can avoid them. Although…] It stopped talking for a moment, its large eyes aimed at my way. [Haven't I seen you before girl?]

I'm pretty sure I haven't, but any answer I could have given it went on hold when its partner spoke up.

"Zorua, who are you talking to?" My eyes snapped to the human stranger. He looked rather… odd. It's not to say he was weird, but his hair was green, of all colors. It was pretty, I guess the word would be, bushy. Kind of unkempt looking and long. He wore a black and white hat that barely managed to hold down the top batch of wild hair. A black undershirt peeked out from the collar of white shirt he word, a pair of khaki pants and white shoes wrapping up his attire. He did have a few accessories – a necklace with a ringed sphere hanging at the end and a chain with a yellow-and-black cube – but his attire seemed plain. However…

"Did he just… understood what the Pokemon was saying?"

Snivy turned its head at me, eyes puzzled. [Seems like it. Funny how the two of you are capable of understanding us.]

"Two?' The boy looked hard at our general direction, though his eyes kept overlooking where I actually stood."Zorua, I don't get it… I don't see another person."

Zorua, as the other Pokemon was called, looked at me weirdly. [You can't see her? She's a girl, wearing pajamas of all things…]

"I can't help that, okay?" And how could he tell these were PJs? My mother told me these were decent to wear on an outing, if you consider visiting a dream world an outing.

[Girl, let's just go. It's obvious we're not going to get an answer out of them.] Snivy turned back the way we came.

"Um, shouldn't we keep going this way?"

[We need to find the boy. Judging by our newfound 'friends' here, the girl went this way.]

No sooner did the words leave its mouth that I saw the approaching silhouette of the person in question. "Snivy!" Hilbert called. He looked out of breath, the same worried look on his face which I previously saw back at the center. Or maybe he was running from the stampeding Darminatan at his tail?

"Snivy! Why'd you run off like that?" Though he struggled to collect his breath, Hilbert looked at the small Pokemon critically.

As would be expected, Snivy turned around with a flick of its tail. [Goodness, human, you're acting like a mother Unfezant. Calm down.] I couldn't keep the grin off my face at the irony of it all.

Forgotten in the corner of the area, the green-haired boy spoke up. "Your Pokemon doesn't seem to like you very much." Without looking, I noted the slight disapproving wisps in his tone, as if he were saying in a few words that Hilbert wasn't worthy of having a Pokemon.

Hilbert's look swept around before locating the owner of the spoken words, eyes squinting at the sight of the strange boy and his Pokemon. "I'm sorry. You said that a little too fast."

The stranger sighed, his hands fidgeting with Bianca's bag; Hilbert's eyes widen upon noticing. "I'm saying your Pokemon is not quite fond of you." He toyed with the straps hanging by the sides of the purse. "And I'm pretty sure I know why." He spoke his words slowly now, though his voice dropped down in volume. Judging by the confused look on Hilbert's face, he didn't catch the last things he said, but I did.

"Aren't you one to judge? He's just starting up as a… what's the word… trainer! Quit being so harsh. Come on, Snivy, say something!"

[As much as I hate to say it, she's right. The boy needs my help, and it's my business if I want to be with him or not, thank you very much.] Snivy emphasize its obvious distaste to the stranger's behavior with an upright turn of its head, huffing for extra affects. It did bring out a giggle from me.

On the other side, the greenete appeared confusion by the snakelike creature's rebuttal, looking like he wasn't expecting it at all. Next to his feet however, the Zorua growled at the creature.

[Don't talk to N that way.]

Snivy merely shrugged its tiny shoulders, not looking the least bit threatened, instead ambling next to Hilbert's side.

"Hey, you, where did you get that bag?"

The stranger looked at the bag over his shoulder for a moment before removing it, holding it out with both hands. "You mean this? A girl ran by here a while ago, hot on the trail of something, and she dropped it."

Danny brushed by Hilbert, nearly tripping him in the process, rushing towards the green headed stranger. [That's my baby's!]

"Your… baby?" He looked like someone just questioned him with an insoluble riddle. And just like in a timed game show, his time was up, the Darminatan snatching the satchel away from him. She brought the object close to her, hugging it real close to her, eyes closed as if in rapture at her discovery. They soon opened, arched downward into a glare at the boy.

[What did you do to my girl?!]

The stranger wisely took a step back away from the defensive Pokemon, holding his hand out in a gesture asking for peace. "I've done nothing. As I've said, the girl ran off this way." He turned, heading straight for the maw of an entranceway, hands held out openly by his sides. "You are welcomed to follow me, if you so wish." With that, he disappeared into the structure. Trotting behind him, Zorua turned its furry head our way, giving all of us a glare, though its eyes dimmed a bit when they landed on me. Before I could even as much as think of what to do in response, it ran off after its trainer.

Danny stood on her back legs, thick arms lifting to thump her large hands against her chest with a roar. [Bianca! I'm coming!] She stomped on over inside, its trainer's bag slung over its body.

Hilbert hesitantly stepped forward, indecision in his body language. He was just as confused as I was by the man's cryptic message.

Any questions about our next moves were answered for us when Snivy stepped forward, taking the boy's invitation. [Come on now, girl, Darminatan. The girl is beyond this contraption.] It waddled ahead a bit before stopping, turning back to look at its keepers, eyes on Hilbert first before flicking to me. [Come on!]

It didn't take so much motivation to urge Hilbert or me to move. Maybe he took a little bit longer than me to move, but once it finally clicked he got a hint of where Bianca might just be, he ran ahead past Snivy.

Inside, I discovered the structure to resemble a sort of outdoor hallway. Well, I… it's just, neither side – the way we came and the other side – had doors. I can clearly see trees outlining the sides across the structure. Until we entered the outdoors, we were surrounded by artificial walls of blue, yellow counters lined up before them with well-dressed individuals propped in between. Small yellow chairs lined up the corners, a simple touch of comfort for the weary should they choose to relax here. And to top it off, from the left, a large screen dominated the center of wall, another thinner screen crowning the top. Words scrolled through the top screen – Straiton City, Sunny; Route 2, Sunny; Dreamyard, Cloudy? – while the bottom one featured clips of what I assumed to be many of the nearby lands features. I saw what appeared to be a depiction of the apartments from the city before my attention focused to the outside.

It wasn't much different from the lingering area outside of the contraption, though clearly, it was expanded upon. Instead of the orderly sight of human residence, what solid structure we saw appeared to be the enduring walls of a former building. Just the walls remain, standing with a semblance of once a time being connected. They were broken, eroded away by time's hand and lack of human care. Cracks visible creased the blocks in many places. Among the rumble, steel beams stood tall over the dull remnants, a contrast of red against its surroundings. The place clearly spelled out abandoned.

Personally, I was feeling a little bit worried. Everything about this place screamed serial killer in the waiting, but Hilbert walked on, Snivy in the lead. Danny was nowhere to be seen, though I caught a few hints of stomped grass in the suspicious shape of a Darminatan's closed fists. There weren't any sight of the stranger N and his Pokemon, either.

Snivy went on ahead, nose up in the air, wriggling whenever it sniffed, its tongue poking after the action. [I smell trouble.] It spoke out loud after a while.

"What kind of trouble?"

[I smell a lot of people here along with a number of Poke…] It stopped, nose sniffing almost furiously. [I smell Tepig!] It made a little noise of excitement, drawing Hilbert's attention to it. [This way! She's over here!]

"Wait! What about those people you said you smelled? And the Pokemon?" Snivy paused in place, possibly from hearing the urgency in her voice.

Hilbert, oblivious to his companion, kept going forward.

And nearly mauled by a man.

He came running from within the urban ruin, red in the face, sweat sheening on his face. He wore a body fitting dark blue suit, a gray and silver tunic worn over it all. Little of his head could be seen due in part of the hood fitting snugly around it, with only wisps of his hair sticking out from around his temple. His eyes went wide when he saw the boy, expression quickly shifting to anger.

"Get out of the way!"

Hilbert did none of that, so stuck to the spot he was. Unlike the mysterious knight look-a-like, he did not recover fast enough from the shock, staring back at the sight of someone twice his size. Before anyone could make a move, a shroud of pink mist seeped from behind the newest stranger. It appeared dreamlike, with almost dense swirls. One can see clearly in front of them, but further beyond the structure nothing much could be seen. As it continued its approach, for some reason, I began to feel… slightly lightheaded.

The knight hissed – "Damn it!" – before turning fully at Hilbert. When he still hadn't move in that time, the man, clearly looking irritated, wind his arm back and ran right by him.

Right onto me. Not through me. _Onto me._

Intense glorious pain erupted on the side of my cheek. I gasped, though it choked to my ears, a line of drool leaving my mouth at the hit. My sides met harshly with the ground, planting with a resounding noise conveying the message of pain. My arms went numb from the intensity of it all. In all of my life, this pain ranked at top of the most excruciating.

"Hey, are you all right?" Hilbert's voice sounded concerned. In the midst of my dilemma, my eyes had closed, locking me away from the happenings around me. I heard heavy shuffling coming from my right, two arms slipping around my torso from my left. But I still couldn't bring myself to open my eyes – a fantastical ditch effort to block out the searing pain on my side. A little shuffle from the side of my face, and my heated face connected with small hands, with the tiniest of fingers. They curled on her upper cheek, scrapping under my closed lids and gathering the stray drop of a tear away.

[Not fair, girl. That move should have been mind to do. Now I have even more reason to be angry.] Opening my eyes greeted me with those large red reptilian eyes I've familiarize with these last few nights. Both narrowed down, though I can tell the glare wasn't directed at me. It whipped its head around, catching the new stranger scrambling away from them. [Oh, no, you don't!] The reptilian Pokemon took to the air, two green cords coming out from around its neck. Elongating, the two whips extended towards the man, wrapping around his ankles and bringing him down to meet the ground.

"Hey, Snivy! That's Vine Whip!"

Hilbert's appraisal went on deaf ears; the Pokemon had a rage in them, clearly preventing proper reasons to assist him. The vines released its hold, and quickly got to work whipping the visible backside. Aside from the noticeable cries of pain released by the knight-look-a-like, the attention on him soon shifted over to a more concerning problem.

"What is that?" Hilbert asked the question for everyone. I looked at mist with some slight fear. It didn't look potentially dangerous, but looks can be deceiving. And something about it gave me a weird feeling, far more concerning than the fact I just get the lights knocked out of me. I raised my hand up, in line of Hilbert's sight, studying it. His brown eyes soon followed the slight jerky movements from the limb. "Does it hurt?" I gave him a quizzical look, though I kept my surprise off my face as much as I could. The obvious question burned on my tongue, but I kept it to myself.

With each passing second, more of the mist surrounded us and the feeling of unease inched over me, prickling my skin. I shivered, feeling on edge. Movement from my left – Hilbert struggled to lift us both to our feet. Personally, I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my time on the ground, but to lie surrounded by this effect… Nah, I'd be in discomfort city.

However, I was surprised to see when Hilbert started taking ginger steps towards the opening.

In my surprise, I asked him what he was doing, a part of me expecting him not to hear me. He replied, "One of my Pokemon is in there. I need check if it's all right."

Oh, yeah! Tepig!

"Hey, Snivy, let's go!"

I was expecting the usual haughty answer, but nothing came. I turned back to where I had last seen the snake-like creature.

It was pasted out on the grass, curled up into itself, asleep. While this may have incurred confusion (and possibly anger) from me, concern emerged in its place at the sight of pink glow on its skin. "Hey, what…"

My question stopped short when an ear-deafening soon boomed from ahead. The sound waves were of such strength, it blew the two of us off our feet. I didn't feel much of the pain this time, since my side had long gone numb. My companion did voice his discomfort, though he had recovered easier than me.

It didn't take me long for me to realize something serious was going down on the other side. Without another second spent, Hilbert got to his feet and marched over towards the ruined hallway. "Hey, stay right here, okay? I'll come back as soon as I can." He ran off after that, lost in the pink fog.

I struggled back up, a movement which didn't take long, even with lack of feeling on the side. Out of reflex, I walked on ahead, intent on following him, but I stopped right there. The fog was really thick and I couldn't see far beyond a few feet in front of me. If I were going to walk on ahead, I couldn't forget about something. I turned on the spot, scooping up the unconscious Snivy in my arms. It wouldn't do us any good if we got lost in this mist and couldn't find my way out. Its trainer had already ran ahead and left him here along with me.

Walking onward, my arms accustomed to the new experience. Holding Snivy in my hand brought the feeling of doing something for the first – that's how it felt like. I'm no stranger to it, obviously, but now, of all times, the intangibility left me. Just to prove it, I tried walking through a nearby wall, the result being the right side of arm making contact to the cool surface. The ability had been snatched away from me.

Unconsciously, my grip tightens around Snivy. I took care to not crush it, the move a rebellious push against the pitfall of my discovery. I pushed onward, my mind now shifting to finding Hilbert.

From somewhere nearby, I heard the shuffling of footsteps, too many to be just the one belonging to Hilbert. I stopped in place, immediately crouching down, praying the mist would hide me from the sight of any curious eyes. A wall stood between me and the approaching people, the small stampede running past me from the other end. I kept my mouth shut, waiting for the noise to end. During the wait, I heard them speak.

"Damn it! It's out of control! What are we going to do?"

"It's our lives! We have to leave or who knows what'll happen!"

Nothing else could be heard between the distances growing between us. When nothing else could be heard, I rose heading the way I heard these people came from. A cavity connected two walls together, an entrance I went through as I continued my trek. More ruins met my sight as I pushed onward, not much of a difference between what could be seen around the entrance, only now the mist seemed thicker than before. It wasn't so much I had trouble seeing. Something about the mist yelled "ominous!" so my nervous levels increased with every step I took.

Soon, the scenery did change. The structure appeared less ruined, more intact inward bound, with even remnants of tiled floors on poking out here and there. Abandoned tables, chairs, and… oil drums lined up against the walls.

On one particular table standing at attention in the center of the room, I saw a familiar red-and-black creature. I ambled as quickly as I could with my exhausted body to Tepig, the little Pokemon slept without a care in the world. It's a wonder I noticed the little with the pink around its body like with Snivy. I picked it up easily, gathering it up in my arms. Now I've completed the task we all came here for. The question now is: Where's Hilbert?

The idea of lingering here, waiting for him to show didn't appeal to me. In fact, Hilbert wanted me found where he last left me. Would I be able to make my way back? Nothing seemed the same, so maybe I'll find my way back easy enough. It should be my next task, so I'll make my way back.

'_Back your way back where? Will you be heading to the place you truly belong, or remaining in our world?_'

I stilled in place. The voice filled my head, coming from ends and corners to deliver its point. Every inch of my body went on edge, muscles stiffening, waiting for something _bad_ to come at me. Each second going by and nothing happening wind me up further, literally giving me the feeling I would burst if some sort of relief wasn't found. For now, harm wasn't being done as far as I'm concerned.

'_I can't hurt you, no matter how much I want to… it's beyond my scope of power at the moment._'

Was this conversation weird or what? During this time I wasn't standing still. I crept my way back from I came from, looking left and right, waiting anxiously for something – anything – to jump me. It took a little bit of moving around to notice a change in my surroundings: the foggy pink mist started getting lighter, the disturbance in my head lifting bit by bit. I would have sighed in relief if it weren't for this whirring noise choosing to appear out of nowhere. Wincing, I tried to keep my attention on the matter at hand.

'_Where will you go after this_?'

Should I answer that question? I needed to find Hilbert now.

'_The boy… he… please tell him I said thank you._'

What?

It went cold. Goosebumps popped out from whatever unfortunate part of me was exposed to the air. As a reflex, I curled into myself, bring the two sleeping Pokemon closer for whatever warmth they could offer. Something was close, and it didn't feel friendly at all. The mist continued to thin, but my sight saw no improvements to the changes. Everything started darkening.

In my deep observation, an oil drum obscured my path, body tumbling over the solid object, sending me to the ground for the third time. I groaned, shakily getting back up to my feet. Easier said than done when the ground began to shake under your feet. Something akin to a scream ripped through the air – Hilbert. I couldn't move fast enough to him. While straightening, I could only get as far up as to my knees, my body frozen in the spot in more ways than one. I was frickin' freezing. The way I trembled actually frightening me. I couldn't stop and it didn't look like it'd be stopping at any moment. It felt like it was getting worse by the second.

The wind picked up from my left, blowing my hair and clothes around. With no sign of stopping, more of the frigid air blew through. I shuddered, my body feeling like it would give out at any moment. Still, I needed to push forward. Please body, keep up just a little bit more, until I find Hilbert and drop off his Pokemon with him.

Again, the ground trembled, sending my balance off-skew. I pushed against the wall to keep from falling, sidling along the direction of the cool draft. I could hear something now, a buzz growing in pitch as I moved nearing. I thought I heard a panting noise.

_Hilbert._

This little knowledge spurred me onward, the newfound strength seeing me through the next broken off part of the ruins. Even with the sight of the pitch black smog and a sense of foreboding telling me to _turn back now!_ I went right through.

A burst of light seared through, blinding me. Keeping my eyes open in slits, tears blurring my visions, I saw something, an ominous black rocket into the air, shrinking away from my sight. The tears were blinked away though dots still peppered my eyes. Only shadows made a picture in my front of me, fading away with every rapid blink of my eye. I looked up, knowing I wouldn't see any sign of whatever was here. Regardless, I turned away, my attention turning to Hilbert. I raised my voice, my hand on his shoulder, shaking him as hard as I could to get him up with little success.

"Come on, man… Get up…" I had set Snivy and Tepig next to him, the two snoring away without a care in the world. What I would give to be like that. Maybe I could try carrying him…?

In the process of an attempt to lift him over my shoulder, a series of events took place. First off, I heard the shifting of grass which indicated someone coming close. I tried not to pay any mind to it until I saw something rush by my leg. The murky fog was clearing, but it didn't help my sense of sight much. It was a small shape and it headed off a broken portion of the damaged walls, joining another silhouette, this one much taller than the first. As I tried to squint and get a closer look, a shearing pain went through my previously unharmed leg. Looking down revealed the sight of a fairly deep cut and a mild flow of blood seeping from the wound.

[Hmm, you didn't even cry out.] The voice sounded familiar enough, but it wasn't until I looked up I managed to put two and two together. The fog hid him well enough, but I made out the bushy hair, the tall lanky figure well enough even in the lack of display I could tell it was the green-haired boy from before.

"Hey, wait!" My mouth moved faster than my brain could respond, though I'll admit I didn't want him to leave, not before he answered some questions first.

Before I could say anything, he spoke up first. "My name is N. I think we'll be seeing each other more often." With a smile he turned away and left.

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	10. Stranger Stranger 4

_**2.4**_

_**Stranger Does Stranger Things**_

_**'**_

_**Spoiled Path**_

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The mist began clearing away before I could make sense of what N had said. I still felt nauseas but now with everything clearing up, I knew I was walking the road of improvement. I think Hilbert will all right, too. I already check for his pulse and breathing. Snivy and Tepig were losing the glow from their figures, as well.

Whatever seemed to have been tormenting this area had left. Looking up at the sky wouldn't provide me with any hints of whatever it was. Even I knew it was long gone. But it was too silent. Or maybe it was just me?

"Hi-YAAAA!" Turning to the direction of the voice, I flinched away at the sight of a quickly approaching object, already imaging how hard it would hit me. To my great surprise, a bundle of colors – and a large quantity of purple – brushed by my vision, whatever it was landing on the spot behind me with a loud thud. I stood, trembling on the spot, heart thumping in place. The attack had gone right through me…

"Huh? I know I saw someone here…!" The voice exclaimed. I couldn't take the time to analyze the newest newcomer. My legs were busy turning into mush, sinking the rest of my body to the ground. Several tremors of shock went through busy schedules passing through every single corner of my being, keeping me from getting back up to my feet. During all this, I kept my eyes ahead, watching the gaping hole where the stranger came through. Not much time went past before someone else, a familiar person, came running in. Well, riding on top of a Pokemon just as familiar as the person

"Oh, Miss Iris~! Don't go running off again, please! I just found you!" Bianca chirped in a happy tone despite her speech's content. Danny cried out a happy tone along with her trainer, eyes opening and landing on my form.

[Oh, hello again!] Her large eyes quickly shifted from me to Hilbert's unconscious form. It rumbled a noise of achievement before moving towards him. [Oh, honey! Look who's here!]

"Huh? Danny, where are you go- Hilbert!" Bianca quickly dismounted from Danny, rushing towards him after straightening her skirt. "Miss Iris, come here!"

A rush of air shifted from my right, and I caught a glimpse of my earlier offender. The thickest hair I've seen, purple and long, crown her head, two twin round batches gathered by yellow ribbons, the very end held together by a band. Not much else could be send beyond the heavy curtain of her hair, but I could hear the loud boom of her voice. "You know this guy, Bianca? I know Danny's friendly, but she straight to him."

"Yes, I met him earlier in the city when I was looking for you." The last few words seemed to be announced with a bit more bite than was needed. A tanned hand appeared from behind the curtain, scratching a section of the batch.

"Sorry about that. I got interested in… something." She inched closer to the boy, kneeling down before him. A hand reached for the area around his neck, clearing checking for a pulse. "He still seems to be breathing. I think he'll be find."

"He won't need any more attention?"

"Well, he does have some scratches on his body, so we might need to take care of that. Especially since we don't know how long he's been here." She got back to her feet, twirling on the spot. I finally got a good look at the one who managed to scare the living crud out of me. Dark-skinned, she wore a skin tight suit light brown in color with pink outlines at the end of the wide sleeves, leggings, and the neckline. A thick pink bow clung around her waist like a skirt and she wore simple white tennis shoes.

Her head angled to her right, brown eyes in a determined glare. "Axew, we need your help little buddy.

From her frickin' _hair_ popped out a little green _head_ with a weird fin sticking out from the top of its head. Its big mouth was decorated with a pair of tusks, one on each end. Big, yellow eyes blinked up at her. [What would you like, Iris?] It spoke in a small, timid voice.

"I need you to scout the area for any medicinal herbs. I need to prepare an ointment, ASAP."

[Got it!] It popped out of bizarre nest, landing on the ground with stubby legs. Very small in size, the creature sported stout limbs for arms and legs, a short thick tail to boot. It didn't have much going in size, though expectably its head looked quite large in comparison to its body. It ambled forward, giving its surroundings a look before its eye landed on me. It gave a curious look – which I returned with a bland look of my own before it quickly dashed away to the nearest patch of greenery. Submerging into the sea of green, the leaves rustling as a sign of its location, it shifted from bush to bush for a while, before popping out of bush, leaves in its mouth. [Found some!] It managed to cry out though a full mouth.

"Good job, Axew!" Iris signaled the Pokemon closer to her, removing the thymes from its possession. "Bianca, the tools!"

The blonde withdrew a mortar and pestle from her returned bag, passing it over to the shorter girl. She sat on the ground, adding the herbs into the mortar for grinding. Moments later, the leaves have been reduced into a liquid form. Bianca passed her a brush, which Iris dipped into the herbal remedy. A good dunk and she removed the coated tool, spreading the residue over one of Hilbert's most exposed wounds. A hiss immediately passed his lips. Twitching slightly, his lids opened to reveal pained brown eyes.

"W…what the hell?" He sputtered, turning his smothered cheek away.

"The sting brought you back to life, huh, wimpy?" Iris giggled, her laughter ebbing away at the withering look Bianca gave to her.

"What's going on? Where's-" His head quickly turned left and right. His eyes landed on the still forms of his Pokemon, eyes widening at the sight of the second addition. "Tepig!" He scooped both of them in his arms, lost in his confusion. "Wait a minute, where's the girl?"

"Girl?" Iris perked up instantly, inching closer to him. "What did she look like?"

In his daze, Hilbert paid no mind to her closeness, eyes still shifting everywhere but in front of him. "She's hurt…!" His eyes locked on to hers at last, a wild look in them. "You have to find her…!"

"Calm down! First you need to tell me what she looks like. I think I might have seen her for a moment." My breath hitched. The girl saw me right before my invincibility and intangibility kicked in. I don't know if should be concerned or not. Hilbert saw me, too, and I definitely didn't know how to feel about that.

For the passing moments, Hilbert didn't answer. He seemed caught up in his muddle. Iris clearly looked frustrated at the lack of progress interrogating him, fingers twitching at her side. Bianca stepped in before she could anything else. "Miss Iris, we need to go back to Straiton first. The gym leaders will be waiting for you."

Body twitching in annoyance, Iris took in some deep breathes, visibly struggling to calm herself. After some time, she stilled, looking at the taller girl seriously.

"You're right. We need to tell them we found the missing Pokemon in the abandoned laboratory. They need to contact the authorities immediately. Tell Danny to carry him. He'll slow us down if we carry him."

The command was given to the Darminatan, who all but happily complied. Snivy and Tepig were nestled in the crooks of his arms, keeping them in place. Bianca took her place next to her Pokemon. Iris took the cue, calling out for her companion. The Axew walked forward hesitantly, edging closer, its eyes falling on me. We locked eyes on each for a moment before it continued onward, jumping into Iris's bed of hair.

Though my body called for rest, I forced myself up, following after them as they left through the way out. I caught sight of a few other people along the way, in the company of a variety of Pokemon. My eyes came back to attention with my unsuspecting company. Eventually the trees gave way to architecture, a sense of comfort being found entering civilization. After trading a few words with her, Iris led the way over to the Pokemon Center.

Something about what she said worried me though.

"Around the town there's been sighting of some shady figures. I was going to try to investigate until someone told me they spotted you over at the Dreamyard. We can't leave Staiton until we find out who's behind all this." The blonde nodded in agreement with her strange colored companion.

I continued to follow them, thoughts swirling over exactly what Iris meant when our arrival to the town square was announced.

And not in the good way.

A roar of voices greeted us from the small crowd standing before the Pokemon center, angry faces all aimed our way. Both girls in the lead of Dan stopped no short amount of surprise on their faces.

"What's going on here?" Iris demanded standing in front of our small group.

"Hand the kid over!" Other similar shouts rose from the crowd, all about a kid. With concern quickly growing inside me, I laid worried eyes on Hilbert's prone body.

"What the heck are you talking about?" When one of the bystanders drew near, Iris growled at them, pushing them away from her when they didn't back away. The crowd's uproar increased in size, clearing outraged. To my surprise, though, it started to quiet down, an unnerving silence taking over.

The crowd soon parted way, and a trio of boys walked out in front. Iris crossed her arms and glared at the newcomers.

"So what do I owe the infamous Straiton triplets a visit for, huh?"

One of them, with green hair, frowned at her behavior. "Iris, you do realize you were causing a disturbance earlier by harassing a citizen of the city, correct?"

She scoffed. "If you had any eyes, you'd realize that jerk wasn't a _citizen_ of Straiton, but a tourist. And a lousy tourist at that. No wait, not even a tourist. Because, again, if you had eyes, you'd have notice before me that people are doing weird things in your city!"

The greenette blushed in a horrible way, clearly intimated by the girl's outburst. Another of the boys - blue hair spilling over one of his eyes - calming walked forward apparently unaffected by the purple wildfire's attitude. "Iris, dear, please be couth for once. Theirs is a crowd of people, and I'd like if you didn't make too much of a scene already."

"I'll calm down when you stop calling me 'dear'."

"That can be done." A smile decorated his face when he came up but now it turned into a frown, visible blue eye lying over Hilbert's prone form. "We have witnesses pointing at this boy being the cause of the Pokemon ruckus which occurred just over twenty minutes ago."

"We'll that can't be true. We were with this boy during those twenty minutes."

The blunette frowned, annoyance apparent on his face. "We don't have time for your games, Iris. We need to question this boy, and you are in the _way_."

The dark toned girl clenched both of her fists and made a move towards the boy, stopped in the next second by Bianca, who places a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "Please, Cress. You have to listen. Iris isn't kidding. I attest to the boy's innocence as well. I was with him early evening, and we found him in the Dreamyard just about twenty minutes ago, too. There's no way he could have caused this."

With held breathe, I watched as some people in the crowd began talking among themselves. The triplets watched lil' Miss Fireball of Purple for a little bit longer – or rather, she and Blue Boy glared at one another – before moving close knitted to whisper something. Iris retreated as well, drawing close to Bianca while standing right in front of Dan and Hilbert. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Roland and Mali draw near, scampering quickly to our side. They too held true to Hilbert's innocence, and through it all, the boy of the hour slept like none of this was happening. Would I be catching a break?

"All right, all right, so we found some people who claim against the boy's involvement with this, but it still a small percentage compared to everyone else who says otherwise." Blue Boy smirked, looking down his nose at Iris.

"That's not my problem, now is it?" She threw her weight forward, pushing the boy back a bit. "Regardless, you need to back off. Innocent or guilty, he's in need of medical attention, so move it!" She shoved him for real this, throwing him into the people behind him. Bianca led Dan towards the Pokemon Center. Roland and Mali ran ahead to get the attention of one of the nurses.

The following minutes were all a rush of people and things being done. Nurse Joy screeched her head off when she saw the condition Hilbert was in, after she gave Snivy and Tepig a look over. During the scramble in getting him a room for the night, since the sun had long set during the whole distraction outside, he woke up, asking in confusion as to how he returned to the center. The nurse shushed him while checking on his condition; by this time, Iris and Bianca had left, telling Mali and Roland they'd come back early in the morning. I was tempted to follow them, but after what happened today, I didn't feel confident in leaving Hilbert's side any time soon, especially since the lass and youngster needed to leave soon, too.

Leaving me alone with Hilbert and his Pokemon. Snivy and Tepig were still partially knocked out on the bed by his side. Oshawott reunited with us during the whole mess, sitting next to me on the floor. There wasn't much to do; the two of us passed the time watching the recovering boy.

[…So Mary told me we'll see each other again tomorrow.] It finished saying. I smiled. It's spent most of the time talking nonstop. Not that I mind. It looked so cute chattering away, glee clear in its tone and not an ounce of insincerity in its gesture. Its little white paws rubbed at the seashell on his belly affectionately as it lean on the wall, looking as if he'd tip over at any moment.

"Go ahead and go to sleep." I tried to think of a way of helping it doze off that didn't require holding him since I couldn't. It occurred to sing to Oshawott but what exactly? In the end I didn't need to do anything. Sleep enticed it soon enough and it was snoring away. With nonetheless else to be done, I closed my eyes, thinking about home. I wonder what Mom and Dad would think if I told them about my weird dreams?

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Of course, I didn't say anything. It was only a thought. But with thoughts of pink swirling mists and animals with the abilities to bend the elements, I confronted my parents in the morning, acting as if everything were normal. Or things were normal until I went to sleep. I shouldn't be condemning my life like that. I'm acting like I lost all hope or something.

Going back to sleep later the night, I awoke to see nothing had changed much. The time frame in this world left me puzzled. Sometimes it moved ahead; others it stood still. Night still blanketed this world, though I could see the telltale orange sign of the sun on the horizon. Shifting could be heard from somewhere on the floor; I watched as Oshawott stretched its little body out.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

[Good… morning.] It blinked its cute eyes, eying me after giving out a large yawn. [You're already awake?]

"Yeah, just waiting for everyone else to wake up?" Turning back to look out through the windows, Oshawott soon joined me by the windowpanes. It didn't take long for it to get bored.

[Let's go out and see if Precious's awake!]

"Who's 'Precious'?" The little otter-like creature jumped down to the floor, ushering me to follow it.

[My new friend! You should go see him again!] Again? Well, why not? He ran along, though not far enough I couldn't catch up with him. We didn't go far, anyway. It was three rooms down, and I met with a very, _very_ familiar face.

[Oh, hello.] The Audino from the day before moved from the little cot the center prepared for it – or him, according to Oshawott. It twiddle its little fingers, blue eyes looking up nervously at me every few seconds. For its comfort, I stayed by the door while Oshawott jumped up to joined him on the bed.

[Did you miss me?]

[Actually, I did. Those other Audinos were making me nervous…] He mumbled quietly, his eyes never leaving me.

[Well, if you want, we can get out of here soon. My trainer's going to wake up soon. You can come with us.]

Precious finally tore his eyes away from me to blink at Oshawott. [A trainer?]

[Yeah! You're my friend! Please come with us! Say yes!] It gave a look I can guarantee would rival the puppy eyes look. Not a lot of time past before Precious surrendered.

[O-okay…] His gaze returned to me. [Is she your trainer?]

Something needed to be added before Oshawott twisted this out of proportion. "Far from it." It flinched when I spoke, but at this point I could care less. I gestured to Oshawott. "Hey, don't we need to get back to Hilbert?"

It nodded. [Yeah, good idea!]

By the time we came with an Audino in our midst, Hilbert was already getting up. To our surprise, he sent greetings to Oshawott, who blushed and accepted it with obvious glee. His constant movements – as he was preparing everything and getting dress – woke up Tepig and Snivy.

[Morning, sleepyheads!] Oshawott called out in its usual glee. Snivy predictably didn't answer, though I attested from lack of knowing where it was over grouchiness. It slowly looked left and right in visible confusion as it sat up in a seated position. Tepig did a similar thing, though it first rose to all fours. It wobbled its way to the edge of the bed, and before I knew, threw itself to the floor with a thud.

"Tepig!" Hilbert and I both yelled, making our way to the pig-like Pokemon.

It shook its head, eyes large and wide. [W-what?] Apparently, the fall seemed to have knocked some sense into it. It quickly jumped to its feet, gave a happy shout and started running around the room.

Hilbert gave a sigh, hand reaching to scratch the back of his head. "What am I going to do with y'all?" He gave a shaky laugh which turned into a hardy chuckle. Soon he paid attention to the packing away what was left in the room, and both of us were ready to go.

Snivy wound up hitching a ride on his shoulders, not quite having shaken the sleepiness out of its system, though its red eyes were narrowed and glaring at anything it fell on. Tepig happily skipped ahead with Oshawott while the Audino followed behind me.

The six of us made it to the lobby of the center, meeting up with a two nurses. Both looked similar, just like before, wearing even the same grim expressions on their faces. One of them stepped forward, blocking Hilbert's way out.

"Yes?" The boy blinked up at them. The other nurse turned into the desk, pulling out a phone she presumably made a call with. Before him, our attendant grasped Hilbert by the arm, pulling him over.

"…send him over soon." The nurse soon hung up, giving the young boy a stern look. "That was the gym leader of Straiton. He wants you over at the Pokemon school soon. However, he's sending one of his brothers to come by so you don't try anymore funny business."

His face morphed into confusion, my heart nearly stopping in place. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, the women shook their head, obviously disappointed at his reaction. With no one willing to answer him – the few people in the lobby turned away from him, keeping their distance – Hilbert sat down without knowing what else to do.

In due time the center's doors swooshed open. I recognized one of the boy's – the redhead – from yesterday. When his gaze settled on the front desk, both of the unpleasant nurses pointed to their right, and he turned to see us (well, Hilbert) sitting by the door.

"Oh, there you are. Come on, follow me. If we don't hurry, Cress's going to chew me out." The redhead said, gesturing him to move. Hilbert hesitantly rose to his feet, making a move to follow him.

"Oh, hell no!"

"Aw, crap!" The boy backed away from door, narrowly missing colliding with the bottom end of Iris's foot.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The thick hair girl demanded. "I already told you he's not the one responsible for what happened!"

Bianca came running in between the doors, heading straight for us. "Good morning, Hilbert!" She still appeared to be all happiness and sunshine. Both of us were thrown back by it.

"Uh, morning… Bianca, what's going on?"

Iris walked up to us, all the while glaring at the redhead like he just insulted her (he might as well have) before answering for him, explaining everything that transpired the day before.

"What the hell?"

"That's the same thing I said." Iris huffed.

"I just got here late afternoon the day before!" Hilbert protested. "One of my Pokemon were snatched up as well, probably by the real propitiator of all this! I was at the Dreamyard and—" He stopped in place. "Wait a second, I saw some suspicious people yesterday. One of them left the yard looking awfully worried."

The redhead gave him a look as if wondering what was wrong with him before sighing. "Look, you need to take it up with Cress. He's the one who wants to get this whole mess out of the way."

"Geez, you've become quite the wuss since I last saw you, huh, Chili?"

He glared at his offender. "Look, Iris, while you're up on your high chair, weird things have been happening around here! It's not my fault I'm out of it!" He turned to leave with a huff, throwing a glare over his shoulder. "Come on! Don't even think about running away!"

With Chili standing right outside, arms crossed and temper still abound, Hilbert threw a worried look at his human companions.

"Don't worry, man. I'll get to the bottom of this." Declared Iris. "The town's gone downhill ever since the mass outbreak of Pokemon the month before. I hear their still trying to settle that, so in a way, I don't blame those three for being so high strung."

Hilbert kept silent walking between her and Bianca. The blonde kept watch of him as we made our way to who knows where. Tepig and Oshawott ran ahead, zipping along the streets. At this point, Snivy had managed to get itself together, more or less, and was walking next to Audino and me. [So what happened?]

I shook my head. "I'm just as confused as you are, but you got knocked out yesterday."

[So that's why I can't remember much after we left the center.]

"It's all just a blur. I wouldn't be able to tell you much about what happened since it went by so fast." Despite my attempts to keep myself to just watching over Hilbert, I was thoroughly confused of the happenings around here. I was worried about him, first and foremost, because by the looks of everything, it appeared to me like there was a possibility of Hilbert getting into trouble for something he didn't even do.

By the time I managed to think of all the possibilities of where Chili was leading us, we arrived at our destination – a small building filled with young childish laughter. Chili opened the door for us, ushering us inside.

The moment Hilbert took a step, all the laughter came to a stop. We made our way into a somber scene, children still in position as they watched us as we walked towards the back of the building.

Sitting crossed legged on a chair Cress sent all of us a smug smile. For what reason he did it, a variety of reasons were strolling through my mind.

"Are you seeing all of this?" He gestured around the room to the quiet children staring at us. It was then I realized they weren't staring at _us_ in general – they were all looking at Hilbert. "How you slept knowing what you've done is beyond me, but you can't lie in face of this."

"Oh, get off your high horse, Cress!" Iris made a number of the people present winced at the volume of her tone. "Quit giving him the guilt card!"

"But you cannot deny in face of these children, in face of _witnesses_, that's he the one who snatched off their Pokemon."

"Hold on! Wait a freakin' minute!" Hilbert tore through the conversation, both arguers staring at him wide-eyes as he continued. "What do you mean by that? This is the same thing I was trying to figure out earlier. I didn't steal anyone's Pokemon! I just freakin' got here! You're all confusing me!" He took a step back – a stomp more like it – and nearly trampled over Snivy behind him. The Pokemon hissed as Hilbert tore away from everyone else, back turned to them as he tried to calm down.

From the corner of my eye, the greenette boy of the three walked past us, his steps slow and delicate. He approached Hilbert with care, green eyes watching him with a bit of concern.

"Look, sir…" He started quietly. "Please just answer me this question…" One of his hands searched into the pocket of his black slacks pulling out an object. "Can you identify this?"

I moved on closer for a look. From where I now stood I could tell two things: the look of surprise on Hilbert's face and the identity of the item. Golden bronze in color, it possessed rather intricate designs – a crude drawing of a monster of some sorts – on its surface, spreading out onto the corners. I couldn't be sure but it seemed to be a brooch.

"W-where did you find t-that?" Oh, God, Hilbert, your stuttering isn't helping…

"Ah-ha! I knew it! It belongs to you!" Cress's face can only be described as self-satisfied.

"Cress! Hold on, will you?" The greenette bit out his face gaining these harsh lines on them. "Look, I won't jump you without hearing your side of the story first. These children were assaulted, you see," he thankfully explained to him as if he didn't know what was going on, which he didn't. "A-and, we have yet manage to catch the culprit. We're a little bit desperate, especially considering how the thieves could have very well attempted to harm the children. It didn't happen but we as Gym Leaders are responsible for this school, and we're greatly shamed for our failure to prevent this event."

I didn't understand a lot of what he said, but Bianca took over from there. "Hey, can we take this elsewhere…?" She looked around at the curious eyes of the children. Cilan – I learned the greenette's name thanks him being yelled at by Iris – lead us all to an adjacent room in the building, closing the door right in my face. …Let's put the intangibility to work.

"I just want to ask one more question." Iris piped up, ignoring the eye roll from Cress. "Was there any other person present when the children were robbed of their Pokemon?"

Cilan looked thoughtful for a moment. "The regular teachers along with a woman by the name of Adelaide from the daycare, who works here part-time when we aren't here. The teachers were inside, however, while Adelaide was the one outside. It was getting dark, but she along with the rest of the children claimed she saw a boy fitting this one's description harass them all."

"May I also ask how a grown woman managed to be overpowered by said boy?"

I couldn't help but snicker at the blushed look on Hilbert's face. "W-well, yeah, good point…" He stammered. Something tells me he was going to say something else. Wise move keeping your mouth shut, boy.

"It wasn't so much that he overpowered her. He said something to the children – exactly what is unknown. Adelaide had been too far away to hear properly. However, the children started bawling, and in the chaos of trying to rally them together their Pokemon were stolen."

The look on Hilbert's face was distant; I don't even think he was listening to anything that was being said. As the others continued talking among themselves – probably about the boy's fate since I wasn't listening to well either – Hilbert broke out of the trance he was in, cleared his throat and spoke up for everyone to hear.

"I'll do it."

"What?" A confused look replaced the obnoxious one earlier on Cress's face.

"I'll help find the missing Pokemon."

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**A/N:** Again I feel like it's croppy, but we'll just have to see what the future holds for me cause I don't want to give up on this story. I refuse, no matter how awful it might be. I'll improve.

Thank you for reading. _Ja mata ne_!


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